Winter 2008-09 / Issue 113add to cart
Editor's Letter
The Museum of Arts and Design's new building on Columbus Circle is not completely new, something those quick to attack it seem to have forgotten. It is a radical alteration of an existing art museum building, the originally widely acknowledged as a failure. Still, a subset of New Yorkers are militant preservationists ready to mobilize against any change. The plan to redesign this deeply flawed Edward Durrell Stone edifice spawned groups of protesters shouting at guests attending exhibition openings at MAD's former 53rd Street location.
The pitched battle is odd because the original building was not torn down but creatively reimagined, and since the scaffolding was removed, it has joined the Columbus Circle landscape as a work of considerable grace under the severe limitations that come with reuse. And yet the protests have continued, coming now in the form of savage architectural reviews of the building. New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff is the most vicious, deeming the results: "Mild ... too timid ... scrubbed of any real meaning." In a separate article, Ourousoff even absurdly advocates demolition.
Surely critics understand that there's a difference between new construction and reuse. Brad Cloepfil, of the Portland-based architecture firm Allied Works Architecture, labored to let light in through load-bearing solid concrete exterior walls, and found ingenious (and respectful) ways to remedy some of its major flaws--such as moving the centrally located elevator banks that dominated the limited amount of gallery space--while still honoring its past (the building's iconic lollipop motif has been preserved, albeit as a ghostly presence behind glass).
No, the new building is not perfect. Its elegant vertical window columns are marred by a jarring, ninth-floor wall of floor-to-ceiling windows insisted on by a restaurateur who backed out before the project was completed. This can be remedied in the future. What is important is that the Museum of Arts and Design now inhabits a notable and effective building that resolves the tension between ornament and pure functionality in architecture with subtly decorative elements such as glazed exterior tile. It relates well to its neighbors, its delicate texturization contrasting with the gleaming TimeWaner Center and also referencing the patterns of windows of the apartment towers on either side, even subtly tipping its hat to Norman Foster's Hearst Tower a block away in the interplay of light and dark elements.
In this issue, we present an in-depth analysis of the new building by GLASS contributing editor William Warmus, who also examines what role art from glass will play in the curatorial direction of the museum. One is encouraged bya major commissioned work by Judith Schaechter that was unveiled at the museum opening, and we have chosen this occasion to present an extensive interview with this major American artist. We are also pleased to present our ifrst International Guide to Glass Art in Galleries and Museums, a defeinitive resource that can also be cross-referenced by artist. Finally, a look at the work of Japan's Naomi Shioya and Australia's Giles Bettison round out this issue's truly global coverage.