Omaha, Nebraska, USA
“Our goal is to see a well-loved place through the eyes of a visitor, which is a learning process that’s only possible with great collaborative partners like the Museum, APMA, and a friendly and engaging community like Omaha,” states Aaron Dorf, Snøhetta Director and architect.
“We’ve tried to create something uniquely tailored to the Joslyn Art Museum that both reflects and reinvents its surroundings and hope that the expansion, renovations, and site redesign will be transformative for Omaha and all who enjoy the Museum.”
Led by Snøhetta and Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture (APMA), the redesign and expansion of the Joslyn Art Museum, in Omaha adds new gallery space, public gardens, and outdoor spaces as well as restore and modernize existing office spaces in the Joslyn Memorial building designed by John and Alan McDonald in 1931.
Through the years, the Museum has experienced several expansions and additions over the years, the first in 1994, by Norman Foster.
“The accumulation of discrete additions over time divided the site, creating a series of obstacles for easy public arrival and pedestrian connectivity that the current plan seeks to remedy,” states the architects.
Snøhetta and APMA now propose to expand the existing gallery space and reimagine the public arrival sequence.
Creating a new 42,000-square-foot pavilion, named after Rhonda and Howard Hawks of The Hawks Foundation, the intervention will add light-filled galleries designed to meet the demands and explore the possibilities of a growing permanent collection.
The ground floor spaces rise to the level of the existing buildings via a gently sloping, accessible walkway.
Increasing the connectivity between existing spaces, the project relocates the primary access to Joslyn, and redesigns the entry drive and entrance, to generate “a clear sense of front and a new beginning for the Museum experience.
The expansion relocates the front door to the edge of the entrance drive. On another hand, the sculpture gardens have been reimagined as new landscape spaces and outdoor rooms, wrapping the site, weaving the buildings and outdoor spaces together around a spine formed by the existing installation The Omaha Riverscape by sculptor Jesús Moroles.
Moreover, the existing Discovery Garden is reconnected to the museum and other gardens by a new landscape for pedestrians with paths that reveal sculptures and native plantings along the way.
Project: Joslyn Art Museum
Architects: Snøhetta
Architects of Record: Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture (APMA)
Original Architects: John and Alan McDonald (1931)
Client: Joslyn Art Museum
