Godspeed: Kentucky’s oldest art museum gets a makeover
![The Speed Art Museum](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tmYt8ZRwa6kQGsiwTyJ7G8-415-80.jpg)
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
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
This Nova Lima apartment is a Brazilian family oasis with striking Minas Gerais views
A Nova Lima apartment designed by Jacobsen Arquitetura celebrates its long, natural Minas Gerais vistas
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
IM Pei's Everson Museum of Art gets a modern makeover
The East Wing of the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY has been given a contemporary refresh by emerging Los Angeles studio MILLIØNS
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Black Modernism’s lesser-known, at-risk architecture gems gain a lifeline
Conserving Black Modernism announces vital funding to save and preserve overlooked and endangered buildings by African American architects and designers
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Step into the Blanton Museum of Art's reimagined public realm by Snøhetta in Austin
Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas is completed and reveals its reimagined public realm and plaza designed by Snøhetta
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
This New York Townhouse renovation is a lesson in contemporary minimalism
TenBerke’s carefully considered New York townhouse is the reimagining of a century-old Manhattan structure that reframes vertical living
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Visit The Frost House, a lesser-known modernist architecture marvel in Michigan City
The Frost House is a lesser-known midcentury architecture gem in Michigan City, Indiana; we took the tour as the property goes on the market
By Audrey Henderson Published
-
Broadway designer Scott Pask’s Arizona retreat is a scene-stealing discovery
Scott Pask invites us inside his Arizona retreat, nestled in the foothills overlooking Tucson – a place to reboot, recharge and commune with nature
By Michael Webb Published
-
Upstate New York retreat Ridge House evokes land art
Ridge House in upstate New York, the work of Brooklyn-based studio Worrell Yeung, is at one with the surrounding countryside
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Rafael de Cárdenas’ first ground-up project is a forever home with waterfront views and hidden treasures
Rafael de Cárdenas reveals his latest completed project in the Pacific Northwest, a family home of calming spaces that bleed the outside in, and ten years in the making
By Ellie Stathaki Published