Opening of Saint Louis Art Museum by David Chipperfield Architects

The 29th and 30th June will be the Grand Opening Celebration of the expansion of the Saint Louis Art Museum by David Chipperfield Architects.

The new East Building seen from Fine Arts Drive (North facade). Image courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum and Architectural Wall Systems. Photograph © Jacob Sharp.

The opening, which will develop during the last weekend of June, will count with several activities, public access and night visit.

The project connects the expansion with the old building with a new Grand Stair which provides a seamless transition to the lower-level galleries. Besides there are a new cafe, renovated shop and auditorium and access to the new parking garage.

One of the most important points in the expansion is the new ceilings, which provide natural light to collection galleries and public spaces, giving visitors a dynamic viewing experience with light that changes with outdoor conditions.

The museum programme is highly increased: the 21 galleries of the East Building increase approximately 30 percent the total gallery space of the Museum. Seven of the new galleries will be used for temporary exhibitions, allowing the Museum to convert its former temporary exhibition galleries into additional space for permanent collection. The East Building galleries will be used for modern and contemporary art.

During the construction period, curators have taken the opportunity to rethink the presentation of the Museum which includes more than 33,000 works of art. By the time of the public opening, more than 1,550 works will have been reinstalled in 50 renovated galleries in the Main Building, in presentations that bear the title A New Vision. Of the reinstalled works, 478 have not been public view for at least 20 years.

Date.- 29th and 30th June de 2013.
Venue.- Saint Louis Art Museum. One Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park, St Louis, MO.

CREDITS:

Architects.- David Chipperfield Architects
Collaborators.- The Rise Group (Project manager), Magnusson Klemencic Asociados (structural/civil engineer), Arup (MEP/FP/lighting/acoustics design engineer), Davis Langdon (cost consultant), Matthew Marchbank (models), David Chipperfield Architects (model photography).
Client.- Saint Louis Art Museum
Expansion floor area.- 9,000 m2
Budget.- $32 million

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North facade of the new East Building seen from Fine Arts Drive. Image courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum. Photograph © Simon Menges.

Looking north through the East Building Hall. Image courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum. Photograph © Simon Menges.

The north facade of the new East Building at dusk. Image © courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Saint Louis Art Museum. Image © courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Saint Louis Art Museum, Main Building and East Building. Image © courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Model of the project, Saint Louis Art Museum. Image © courtesy of Saint Louis Art Museum.

The 1904 Beaux Arts Main Building with the new East Building in the foreground. Image courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum and Architectural Wall Systems. Photograph © Jacob Sharp.

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More information

David Chipperfield

David Chipperfield was born in London in 1953 and studied architecture at the Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London before working at the practices of Douglas Stephen, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster.

In 1985 he founded David Chipperfield Architects, which today has over 300 staff at its offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai.

David Chipperfield has taught and held conferences in Europe and the United States and has received honorary degrees from the universities of Kingston and Kent.

He is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and an honorary fellow of both the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA). In 2009 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 2010 he received a knighthood for services to architecture in the UK and Germany. In 2011 he received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture and in 2013 the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association, while in 2021 he was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in recognition of a lifetime’s work.

In 2012 he curated the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.