One of Bard College’s eight graduate programs is housed in the tongue-twistingly named Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture – dubbed ‘CSS’ for short.
Founded in 1990 and located on the college’s bucolic Annandale-on-Hudson campus, the original 38,000 sq ft Center was designed by Chicago architect James Goettsch and Nada Andric, now the associate director of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. An expansion in 2006 added 17,000 sq ft. The resulting plus-sign-shaped building contained a library, classrooms, lounge and the Hessel Museum of Art, with its impressive contemporary art collection. But the growth of the library and archives over the past decade necessitated a careful re-programming of the space, says Tom Eccles, executive director of the CSS.
To address that challenge, Eccles called on New York-based architects Hollwich Kushner (HWKN), known for their inventive and diverse portfolio. ‘Having been in dialogue with Matthias Hollwich since his days at OMA and having watched the impressive growth of Hollwich Kushner, I was excited to work together on a cultural project that demanded strong analytic skills in terms of unifying diverse spatial needs – bringing together the often conflicting requirements of a museum and a school,’ says Eccles.
Rather than expand the Center’s footprint, Hollwich and his partner Marc Kushner worked surgically within the building to reconfigure it, cutting new windows and skylights, removing walls and boxy galleries, doubling the size of the library and creating more teaching spaces. ‘We let the museum break out of its shell and let the world of curation become part of the experience,’ says Hollwich. ‘We empowered the curatorial studies program and created visible storage where visitors, scholars, teachers and students can dive into the deepest secrets behind cultural artifacts.’
To do this, the architects used humble materials – drywall, paint and brick – to create 3,600 sq ft of visible storage in what was a traditional gallery space. At the centre of the room is a large, raised platform that houses components of the museum’s archive. Set in rolling tracks, the archives can be easily seen and moved, with more than 2,500 works of art, publications and manuscripts now easily accessible. Part of the new storage was designed by British conceptual artist Liam Gillick, who designed a slatted wall installation that allows visitors to see through the archives to a wall drawing by Sol LeWitt. A new lobby, cafe and dramatic auditorium round out the project. ‘Here students can experience, curate and love art,’ concludes Hollwich.
The original Center was designed by Chicago architect James Goettsch and Nada Andric. An expansion in 2006 added 17,000 sq ft, so Hollwich Kushner chose to reconfigure the building, cutting new windows and skylights, removing walls and boxy galleries, doubling the size of the library and creating more teaching spaces
The architects used humble materials – drywall, paint, and brick – to create 3,600 sq ft of visible storage in what was a traditional gallery space. Set in rolling tracks, the archives (pictured) can be easily seen and moved
Part of the new storage was designed by British conceptual artist Liam Gillick, who created a slatted wall installation that allows visitors to see through the archives to a drawing by Sol LeWitt
‘We let the museum break out of its shell and let the world of curation become part of the experience,’ says Hollwich
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the CSS Bard’s website
Photography: Michael Moran
ADDRESS
Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson
New York, NY 12504
-
Davos 2025: Genesis goes all-out on outdoor machismo with this extreme sport support vehicle conceptPresented to the World Economic Forum at Davos, the Mountain Intervention Vehicle Concept is a wild transformation of the Genesis GV60 into a tracked rescue vehicle
-
E-ink comes of age: the best new tablets for distraction-free reading and writingWe explore the world of E-ink tablets to find the best device for handwriting input, editing, sketching and light computing duties
-
We are the world: Pininfarina’s ‘Orbis’ taps Papal support for an eco-friendly agendaThe Orbis is a ‘symbolic object’, a gift to Pope Francis from the Italian design agency at a time of political upheaval and social fracture around all aspects of sustainability
-
Apple’s new Miami store employs the principles of biophilic designApple’s first mass-timber store connects shoppers to nature while echoing the Art Deco architecture of Miami
-
The World Monuments Fund has announced its 2025 Watch – here are some of the endangered sites on the listEvery two years, the World Monuments Fund creates a list of 25 monuments of global significance deemed most in need of restoration. From a modernist icon in Angola to the cultural wreckage of Gaza, these are the heritage sites highlighted
-
Reflections from Los Angeles: a local writer's personal account of the LA firesArchitecture writer and local resident Michael Webb reflects on the devastating 2025 Los Angeles fires and offers his personal account of the events of the last two weeks in California
-
LA Mayor Karen Bass outlines her plan for rebuilding the cityFollowing the devastating LA wildfires, which have destroyed more than 12,000 structures, the city’s mayor has outlined her plan for reconstruction
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House, a Usonian modernist Michigan gem, could be yoursFrank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House in Michigan is on the market – a chance to peek inside the heritage modernist home in the countryside
-
Cabin House is a simple modernist retreat in the woods of North CarolinaDesigned for downsizing clients, Cabin House is a modest two-bedroom home that makes the most of its sylvan surroundings
-
A Texas ranch house blends Californian charm and Asian minimalism in a 'balance in hybridity'Pontious, a Texas ranch house designed by OWIU, is a home grounded in its owner's cultural identity, uniting Californian, Chinese and Japanese roots
-
The three lives of the Edith Farnsworth House: now, a modernist architecture icon open to allThe modernist Edith Farnsworth House has had three lives since its conception in 1951 by Mies van der Rohe; the latest is a sensitive renovation, and it's open to the public
