Weiss/Manfredi Wins Competition to Expand the Nelson-Atkins
Following a two-stage competition, Kansas City, Missouri's Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has selected WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism as the lead architect for the museum’s upcoming expansion and transformation project.
Today's announcement comes one month after the designs of the six finalists were revealed to the public. The New York practice of Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi bested an impressive list of architects that included Renzo Piano, Kengo Kuma, Jeanne Gang, Annabelle Selldorf, and Kulapat Yantrasast. More than 182 entrants from 30 countries participated in the competition's first phase.
Since first learning about the competition last year, we wondered how the entrants would site their additions relative the the museum's 1933 neoclassical building, the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park on axis south of the museum, and the 2007 Bloch Building designed by Steven Holl Architects to the east of the original building. Weiss/Manfredi were one of a few of the six finalists that placed the expansion to the west with additional spaces to the south, at the steps leading from the museum to the sculpture garden. The aerial renderings and model included in today's announcement show an expansion that balances itself with the Bloch Building yet finds an expression that is more flowing, reminiscent of the earlier Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center, among other Weiss/Manfredi projects.
“WEISS/MANFREDI’s concept absolutely blew us away as it captured the spirit of the museum while offering a bold vision for our future. Central to our competition was the need to respect the Nelson-Atkins’ original, neoclassical building, as well as our beautiful Bloch building, while also bringing something new to our campus. This concept delivers all of that, and we look forward to working with Marion, Michael, and their team to collaborate on an expansion design that keeps our commitment to great experiences with art and forges a deep sense of belonging and connection within our community.”
Weiss/Manfredi referred to their winning proposal as a “connected tapestry” and described the organic geometries of their design as a means of “recentering the cultural campus around the sculpture park.” 3The text for their proposal read, in part: “Strategic renovations and luminous additions reinvigorate the elegant but fortified museum to signal a new transparency, both literal and philosophical. New and existing galleries, expanded spaces for education, performance, events, and dining all overlook the reimagined Sculpture Park. Here, new reciprocities – between architecture and landscape, art and ecology, invite the community to engage and create a new tapestry for the arts.”
Next, the Nelson-Atkins will work with the Weiss/Manfredi team* to develop the design. The roughly $170 million project is expected to be paid for entirely with private funds. To see the full presentation boards of Weiss/Manfredi's competition entry, visit the Malcolm Reading Consultants website.
- Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism (Architecture)
- SCAPE (Landscape Architecture)
- Atelier Ten (Sustainability)
- WeShouldDoItAll (Exhibition and Experience Design)
- Taliaferro & Browne (Civil Engineering)
- Jaros, Baum & Bolles (MEP Engineering)
- Severud Associates (Structural Engineering)