The Hood Museum of Art gears up to reopen following renovation
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Works have been progressing fast at Tod Williams and Billie Tsien’s (TWBTA) renovation and expansion of Charles Moore’s Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire; and the project is set to open to the public on January 26, 2019.
Their work will double the Hood Museum of Art’s gallery space, triple its teaching facilities, and transform its north-facing connection to the school’s heart: its historic Green. The cube-shaped, baked white brick façade – punctured by a single 14-foot-square plate-glass window – will project a bolder, more recognisable face, although not too bold, note the architects, who are known for their sensitive work with cultural icons like the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.
‘Our motto has always been simplify and intensify,’ notes Williams, who says he was drawn to the campus’s white brick historic structures. Museum director John Stomberg adds: ‘You notice it, but it is still quiet.’
The heart of the new undertaking is not the surface, but the experience inside, note Williams and Tsien. Their team has created an addition with a much clearer entry sequence than the original, as well as an energetic atrium, and lofty, art-focused galleries with simple white walls, light oak floors, and copious natural light. They’ve also added new classrooms, study galleries, offices, object storage, and exhibition preparation areas.
They are extensively renovating Moore’s original postmodern building, bringing systems up to date, removing clutter, enhancing flow, and increasing daylight. Moore’s playfully askew, red-brick, south-facing façade, restored and enhanced, will highlight the museum’s connection to the school’s Maffei Arts Plaza, bordered by the Hood, the new Black Family Visual Arts Center, and the midcentury Hopkins Center for the Arts.
Williams and Tsien insist the replacement of Moore’s front face and entry was needed for reasons of clarity, safety, practicality, and energy. ‘We want to take care of the past, but also give it a new life,’ noted Tsien. Williams stresses his firm’s ability to both respect and enliven history: ‘We are not bent on destroying Moore’s work. We want to hold on to what we can, but we also need to hold on to our beliefs about what is necessary.’
The $50 million project, enlarging the institution’s footprint to 5,800sq m, will allow it to show off many more of the 65,000 objects in its collection, which range from classical antiquities to African sculptures to the work of Ed Ruscha. Not only will this make it a better place to see art, but it will, notes Stomberg, better address the school’s goal of creating a more effective teaching space. Not just for those at Dartmouth, but for students region-wide.
‘We don’t want to be a wealthy institution surrounded by a community. We want to be part of that community,’ says Stomberg.
Featuring a selection of new gallery spaces, the extension is set to open in January 2019.
The architects' aim was to 'simplify and intensify'. Pictured here, the new lobby area.
Three new smart object-study rooms will create new opportunities for study and research in a museum setting, addressing the increased curricular demand for direct engagement with original works.
INFORMATION
For more information visit the website (opens in new tab) of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
-
The best London art exhibitions: a guide for March 2023
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK in March 2023, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Harriet Lloyd Smith • Published
-
Craig Green on his ‘decorated men’ and those hand-moulded leather accessories
‘They are almost like a relic,’ says British designer Craig Green of the hand-moulded leather objects that appeared as part of his S/S 2023 collection, a musing on functionality and decoration
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Wadi AlFann, AlUla’s new land art destination, is stirring creativity in the desert
Wadi AlFann – Saudi Arabia’s Valley of the Arts – hints at the scale of its ambition with an event in the desert for curators, artists and cultural leaders ahead of the completion of its site and first five artworks
By Simon Mills • Published
-
This futuristic ski house is born of its sloped locale
A ski house with a contemporary twist, this is House at 9,000ft by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple in the Intermountain Region of Western USA
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Lasting Joy Brewery injects design sophistication to Hudson Valley farmland
Lasting Joy Brewery by Auver Architecture brings contemporary energy and sophistication to the growing Hudson Valley craft beer scene
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Khanna Schultz’s House in Michigan is an exercise in balancing contrasts
House in Michigan by Khanna Schultz was conceived to fulfil contrasting needs – and does so with poise and efficiency
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Marfa’s El Cosmico campground hotel is getting a 3D-printed revamp
El Cosmico in Marfa, Texas, is being reimagined by BIG, 3D-printing specialist Icon and hotelier Liz Lambert
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Sonoma home gets dramatic flowing studio extension
Mourning Dovecote by Schwartz and Architecture is a Sonoma home’s eye-catching studio extension for an architect
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Black Creativity in architecture celebrated in Chicago exhibition
New exhibition in Chicago is centred on honouring Black Creativity in architecture through the ages
By Audrey Henderson • Published
-
Highgrove House is an architect’s own home embedded in Malibu nature
A family home in tune with its surroundings, Highgrove House by Lorcan O'Herlihy is sensitive architecture embedded in Malibu nature
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Palm Springs Modernism Week 2023: architects reveal desert’s best-kept secrets
As Palm Springs Modernism Week 2023 unfolds, we’ve spoken to architects and designers participating in the festivities to pick their brains about the desert city’s hidden gems
By Ellie Stathaki • Published