The Dallas Museum of Art recently announced the design concepts of the six finalists of its competition to reimagine its facility – and now the museum wants to know what you think.
When the facility opened in 1984, the site was surrounded by warehouses and empty lots.
Edward Larabee Barnes’ Modernist creation became the cornerstone of an emerging arts district. Four decades later, the Dallas Arts District spans 118 acres and is the largest contiguous urban arts district in the nation.
The museum’s impressive neighbors now include the Meyerson Symphony Center, Winspear Opera House, Wyly Theatre, Moody Performance Hall, Crow Museum of Asian Art, Nasher Sculpture Center and Klyde Warren Park.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
In addition to creating more gallery space for its collection, the museum wants to reinvent how its campus engages with the public and its neighbors. The competition, organized by Malcolm Reading Consultants, launched in February 2023.
Out of 154 team submissions, six finalists have emerged.
“Each team has thought deeply about the Museum’s civic presence, about an energized circulation. Where to put new galleries and how to weave in gardens and landscape? What elements should stay, what should go? What are views that will draw audiences? How do we get physically, intellectually, spiritually closer to art?” said Dr. Agustín Arteaga, the museum’s Eugene McDermott Director.
The museum’s Architect Selection Committee will meet with the finalists in July and make a recommendation to the Dallas Museum of Art Board of Trustees.
A winner will be announced in August.
”What are we, the deciding committee, looking for? Well, a brilliant analysis of the complex program, for energy and inspiration, for a deep connection to our communities and Larrabee Barnes’ original intent,” said Jennifer Eagle and Lucilo Peña, Architect Selection Committee Co-Chairs.
The museum wants to hear from the public. The design concepts may be viewed in person on Mezzanine Level 2 (M2) at the museum and online. The public is invited to comment either at the exhibition or by email to dmafeedback@malcolmreading.com.
“We very much look forward to hearing from our communities and welcome comments on the ideas and themes in these proposals. Please visit the presentation in person or via the online gallery where there will be opportunity to provide feedback that will help shape the future of the DMA,” Arteaga said.
The six finalist teams are led by:
• David Chipperfield Architects (London, UK)
“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.”
• Diller Scofidio + Renfro (New York, USA)
“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.”
• Johnston Marklee (Los Angeles, USA)
“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.”
• Michael Maltzan Architecture (Los Angeles, USA)
“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.”
• Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos (Madrid, Spain)
“Our proposal acknowledges the presence of the original building and its pivotal role in the development of the Dallas Arts District while proposing significant spatial architectural transformations respectful of its recent history. The clear architectural scheme by Edward Larrabee Barnes, once conceived as an opaque and compact building, has been overtaken after four decades by the development and implementation of new settings in the Arts District. We propose an open, welcoming, accessible, and inclusive museum, improving and adding new spaces for contemporary art collections.”
• Weiss/Manfredi (New York, USA)
“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.”
These design concepts represent a transformation of a museum – and a city.
“They set the stage for an identity reshaped, for reinforcing and realigning the Museum’s important role as the anchor of the Arts District and restructuring its connections to an endlessly changing Downtown,” said Malcolm Reading, Competition Director.
Learn more: Dallas Museum of Art Finalists' Gallery
