After years of extensive works, the Speed Art Museum in Kentucky is finally ready to reopen its doors and unveil its spectacular renovation and brand new extension. Endearingly referred to by locals as 'the Speed', the new museum complex, designed by internationally renowned architect Kulapat Yantrasast and his firm wHY, was executed in collaboration with the Louisville architecture firm KNBA.
When the museum decided to kick start its significant makeover, transforming its existing 1927 Neoclassical structure built by Arthur Loomis, they began an international search for the right firm. Whittling down a long list of over 100 candidates to just eight, the board members were won over by wHY’s proposal, coined by Yantrasast ‘acupuncture architecture,’ which secured the sought-after commission.
The idea behind ‘acupuncture architecture’ came up quite early in the project's development. ‘Rather than create a stand-alone expansion, we wanted to activate the original building from multiple points in order to heal the whole,’ explains Yantrasast.
The museum’s new extension – named the 'North Pavilion' – features a facade of concrete, metal and fritted glass. A wide internal staircase is also visible through the transparent exterior. Upon entering, visitors are greeted by a series of free-flowing areas, such as an indoor/outdoor auditorium, an entry hall and a double-height light and airy lobby, which includes a suspended steel structure by contemporary artist Spencer Finch.
The new wing's public services are decentralised to create an unexpected path of exploration for visitors. wHY aimed for ‘openness and transparency’ when planning the interior program, emphasising a relationship to its context with numerous views out to the surrounding landscape, outdoor piazzas and the nearby University of Louisville, Belknap campus.
The new and old parts are linked through a suspended bridge. This connection supplies a view over the newly excavated atrium in the North Pavilion and gives access to the once hard to reach educational program area within the building’s basement.
When entering the North Pavillion lobby, which looks over the original museum building, visitors are greeted by a series of free-flowing areas
The spacious and bright lobby features a site-specific, suspended piece by contemporary artist Spencer Finch
The new space host a series of new and contemporary galleries and a set of decentralized public amenities, such as a museum shop, cafe and cinema
The museum's new entrance point includes a public area with a piazza and water feature, providing visitors and students of the nearby university campus with an outdoor area to socialise
INFORMATION
For more information on the Speed Art Museum, visit wHY’s website
Photography: Rafael Gamo
ADDRESS
Speed Art Museum
2035 S 3rd St
Louisville
KY 40208
United States
-
Orlando Museum of Art wants to showcase more Latin American and Hispanic artists. Do you fit the bill?The Florida gallery calls for for Hispanic and Latin American artists to submit their work for an ongoing exhibition
-
This spa in the Riviera Maya stays open until midnight. Here’s what happens after darkRosewood Mayakoba’s Akbal Series proposes a new kind of night out
-
Two new villas extend Christian Louboutin’s exuberant Portuguese hotelA pink, kasbah-inspired residence and a whitewashed boathouse join the French shoe designer’s Vermelho Hotel in Melides, Alentejo
-
Inside a Donald Wexler house so magical, its owner bought it twiceSo transfixed was Daniel Patrick Giles, founder of fragrance brand Perfumehead, he's even created a special scent devoted to it
-
The Pagani Residences is the latest ultra-luxe automotive apartment tower to reach MiamiRising up above Miami, branded apartment buildings are having a renaissance, as everyone from hypercar builders to crystal makers seeks to have a towering structure bearing their name
-
A modern cabin in Minnesota serves as a contemporary creative retreat from the citySnow Kreilich Architects' modern cabin and studio for an artist on a lakeside plot in Minnesota was designed to spark creativity and provide a refuge from the rat race
-
Touring artist Glenn Ligon's studio in Brooklyn with its architect, Ravi RajGlenn Ligon's studio, designed by architect Ravi Raj, is an industrial Brooklyn space reimagined for contemporary art
-
A dynamic Mar Vista house plays with the rhythm of indoor and outdoor livingA new Mar Vista house, designed by Mexican architecture studio PPAA, combines a façade with a whisper of brutalism, and a breezy, open interior, seamlessly connected to its Los Angeles setting
-
This Michigan lakeside house is an exercise is sculptural minimalismExplore a Michigan lakeside house, designed by Disbrow Iannuzzi and featuring sculptural timber interiors and a contemporary minimalist feel
-
Welcome to How House, a revived Rudolph Schindler gem in Los AngelesThe latest owner of How House, an early Rudolph Schindler gem, is taking a contemporary approach to conserving its heritage
-
Nearly a century after it was completed, Bruce Goff’s revolutionary Adah Robinson House astonishes once againThe flamboyant building in Tulsa, Oklahoma is beginning its latest chapter as a charitable event space, known as The Oath Studio. See the restoration
