Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
Olson Kundig has completed the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma— a new museum that features a collection of more than 100,000 items of Dylan’s life from manuscripts and correspondence to films, videos, artwork, and original studio recordings.
“I’m glad that my archives, which have been collected all these years, have finally found a home, ” states Bob Dylan.
The museum is housed in a renovated 100-year-old building, an old paper warehouse.
The project has been recently awarded a 2023 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The new façade is decorated with a large mural of a rare 1965 image of Dylan, donated by renowned photographer Jerry Schatzberg.
The Center is dedicated to the study and appreciation of Bob Dylan and his worldwide cultural significance.
The exhibition design and media development is created in collaboration with 59 Productions, a multi-disciplinary design studio who have worked on the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the record-breaking David Bowie’s exhibition, and the décor concept design for The Met Ball.
The architects used the artist’s “creative trajectory” as a source of inspiration for visitors, creating the storytelling of his lifelong legacy.
Keeping in mind that throughout his career, he has resisted explaining himself truthfully, the design team knew that there will be a play of fiction vs nonfiction.
The project is put together by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, a Tulsa-based charitable foundation dedicated to preserving and maintaining the archives of important American artists through its sub-company the American Song Archives.
Project: Bob Dylan Center
Architects: Olson Kundig
Lead Architects: Alan Maskin and Stephen Yamada-Heidner
Design Team: Marlene Chen, Holly Simon, Ryan Bottss, Karen Duan, and Aiym Zhumasheva
Associate Architects: Lilly Architects
General Contractor: Crossland Construction Company Inc.
Client: The George Kaiser Family Foundation
Photographers: Matthew Millman
