The carefully renovated and expanded Hood Museum of Art in Hanover, New Hampshire, US is gearing up to throw open its doors to the public. The refreshed institution, which is owned and operated by Dartmouth College, has been given a two-year-long makeover by New York-based architecture duo Tod Williams and Billie Tsien.
The museum, which ties into Dartmouth College’s academic activities, now features a new central space – the Russo Atrium – as well as new gallery and research spaces. Education areas are also given a boost, ‘with an emphasis on the arts at Dartmouth’, explains the institution. ‘The building is a hybrid of newly constructed facilities and restored and updated spaces from the original 1985 Charles Moore building, and provides active spaces for teaching, exhibition, exploration, and dialogue’, add the architects.
The museum has just completed an extensive facelift including renovations and new elements. Photography: Michael Moran, courtesy Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College
‘We have worked closely with the team at the Hood Museum and Dartmouth College to design a progressive teaching museum while preserving many of the distinctive features of the Charles Moore building’, says Williams. ‘The conversation throughout has been both pedagogical and architectural. The renovation of, and addition to, the existing Hood creates a complementary dialogue between old and new, extending the identity and functions of the institution well into the future.’
Not only does the new design safeguard the museum’s collections and allows more space for them to be seen, studied and admired (specifically increasing the Hood’s exhibition space by 42 per cent); the redesigned and expanded museum also demonstrates the College’s commitment to the arts for future generations. §
