Six Architecture Firms Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art

The competition was launched by DMA with Malcolm Reading Consultants in February of this year, with space constraints being the primary impetus. DMA director, Agustín Arteaga, wrote at the time: “Today we are no longer able to accommodate the exponential growth of our collections and are forced to keep masterworks hidden from the public due to limitations on space. It is time for our building to evolve to meet the current and future needs of our diverse and expansive collections and communities.” In turn, the project aims to expand DMA's gallery space through one or more additions; reorganize its internal spaces, circulation, and entrances; and provide upgrades to the existing building.

Anchoring Dallas's Arts District, the DMA opened in 1984 in a sprawling building designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, with notable features being the barrel-vaulted entrance and walled sculpture garden. In the decades since, the museum has seen additions and renovations, while the surrounding area has blossomed, notably with the Nasher Sculpture Center opening across the street in 2003 and Klyde Warren Park opening a block away in 2012. Missing from the list of six shortlisted firms, which were announced in April, is Renzo Piano, architect of the Nasher and perennial go-to architect for museums. The list of six — David Chipperfield Architects, Diller Scofidio+Renfro, Johnston Marklee, Michael Maltzan Architecture, Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, Weiss/Manfredi — points to a passing of the baton to younger firms specializing in institutional projects alongside more established names, including one recently crowned a Pritzker Prize laureate.

The six schemes are on display at the DMA from July 11 – August 30, 2023. Below are images and texts excerpted from the six shortlisted projects, presented in alphabetical order by architect, with links pointing to the Malcolm Reading website where you can read the full statements for each scheme and see the presentation boards.

with HarrisonKornberg Architects (Local Architect); James Corner Field Operations (Landscape Architect); Pentagram (Exhibition Design); Thornton Tomasetti (Structural Engineer); Arup (Services and Lighting); and Atelier Ten (Sustainability)

“Our design concept originates from a profound sense of respect for the existing DMA campus and a desire to deepen its engagement with the energetic qualities of its immediate urban surroundings. An interpretation of the Museum’s most successful qualities has formed the basis of our approach to reimagining a new DMA that is both culturally and socially responsive, and ecologically responsible.”

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with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Inc. (Landscape Architect); Arup (MEP, Sustainability, and Daylighting Engineer); LERA Consulting Structural Engineers (Structural Engineer); New Affiliates (Exhibition Design); and GFF (Local Architect)

“Edward Larrabee Barnes’s 1984 DMA reflects the values of its time — aloof and sequestered from the everyday lives of Dallas citizens. The new expansion will embrace the public. It will allow the DMA to show its growing collection in new ways, reaching across diverse audiences. It will engage the open sites to the north and south to create two new front doors that bookend the Museum, each visually porous and bustling with activity.”

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with Christ & Gantenbein (Museum Specialists); MOS Architects (Public Realm); Sam Jacob Studio (Exhibition Design); Hargreaves Jones (Landscape Architect); Buro Happold (MEP and Sustainability Engineer); Walter P. Moore with Martinez Moore Engineers (Structural Engineer); and Kendall/Heaton Associates (Local Architect)

“Our vision for the DMA is of a museum in a garden. A collection of pavilions and courtyards both existing and new, linked by a lively internal street. A place that welcomes and engages its visitors: where art connects with nature, and culture connects with the city.”

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with Studio Zewde (Landscape Architect); Guy Nordenson and Associates (Structural Design Engineer); Buro Happold (MEP Engineer); Atelier Ten (Sustainability); and JSA/MIXdesign (Exhibition Design and Accessibility)

“We believe that the architecture and landscape of the reimagined DMA can weave together the history and the future of both the Museum and Dallas. At the core of our architectural response, we seek to preserve the philosophical aspirations of the original Edward Larrabee Barnes design, modifying it to support the DMA’s evolving requirements.”

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with Atelier Culbert (Exhibition Design); SWA Group (Landscape Architect); Arup (MEP, Lighting, and Sustainability Engineer); Bollinger+Grohmann (Structural and Façade Engineer); and PGAL (Local Architect)

“Art inspires the beginning of the architectural project to reimagine the DMA. Claude Monet’s The Water Lily Pond (1903) poetically suggests the reversal of reality in the reflection of water; the lightness of air and clouds versus rootedness in earth and vegetation.”

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with Hood Design Studio (Landscape Architect); WeShouldDoItAll (Exhibition Design); DVDL (Cultural Strategists); Thornton Tomasetti (Structural Engineer); Jaros, Baum & Bolles (MEP/FP Engineer); and Atelier Ten (Sustainability)

“The Dallas Museum of Art is an enduring cultural wonder within the increasingly vibrant Dallas Arts District. We admire the cadence of architecture and landscape central to Edward Larrabee Barnes’s and Dan Kiley’s initial vision, yet the existing building’s opacity and unintuitive orientation conceal the vibrancy of this cultural campus. Our design activates and intensifies reciprocities—architecture and landscape, building and garden, art and community—to construct a new tapestry for the arts.”

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