In approaching the design for the new Kimball Art Center, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) found great inspiration in the urban development of Park City, the Kimball site, and the city’s mining heritage. They feel the form of the new Kimball Art Center emerges where these rich stories overlap. More images and architects’ description after the break.
BIG was particularly moved when a long-time resident of Park City spoke nostalgically about the former Coalition Building, which once stood just south of the Kimball site. It stood 80 feet tall for 80 years as an iconic landmark for Park City and a monument to the mining heritage, until a fire tragically brought it down in 1982. They wanted to recreate some of its attributes in the new Kimball Art Center – not only the proportions and materiality but the history it represented.
Historically, timber was the primary construction material of the first miner settlers in Park City. Inside the mines, heavy timbers were stacked into retaining walls. The same technology inverted was applied outside the mines as primary structure for most residential construction. They conceived the new Kimball Art Center as an evolution of this construction technique basically a highly-evolved log cabin at an unprecedented scale.
BIG found the most interesting challenge to be where the Kimball is situated in the urban context. At the intersection of the most socially active street – Main St – and a diagonal street that has become the gateway to the city – Heber Ave – the new Kimball needed to address both orientations. They solved this by essentially giving each street a gallery. The building footprint sits in relation to Main St and the city grid, then as it rises it turns to greet visitors entering the city via Heber Ave, creating an iconic yet contextual building at the city’s doorstep.
Architects: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
Location: Park City, Utah, United States
Partner in Charge: Bjarke Ingels
Project Leader: Leon Rost
Team Members: Terrence Chew, Suemin Jeon, Chris Falla, Andreia Teixeira, Ho Kyung Lee
Collaborators: Nexus Architects, Dunn Associates, Van Boerum & Frank Associates, and Envision Engineering
Client: Kimball Art Center
Size: 2.800 m2, 30.000 sf
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
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- model 01
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- model 02
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- model 03
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- model 04
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- model 05
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- diagram 01
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- diagram 02
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- diagram 03
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- diagram 04
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- diagram 05
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- diagram 06
a twisting building, fancy, fancy…
“yes is more” is full of twisting buildings; is big running out of ideas?
So. They twisted this building just as they´ve twisted that Mosque thing in Tirana. They´re good.
hi, looks fantastic… does anyone know what rendering software they used for this? looks amazing!
Considering the noise and artifacts on the ceiling in the rendering featuring a couple of dancers, I would bet V-Ray with pretty low settings and a lot-lot-lot of PS post-processing.
thanks! if only they would release that on mac!
Damn… you’re good!
sweet images, and finally some use of wood from this firm
It’s truly sad to see how much time they make their employees invest in an idea this bad!
I really like the idea of using wood in this building and even if the twist isn’t a new concept I think its quite nice. I like how you can see the joints. I just wonder if they’ve actually thought at all about the size of that timber used in this building. It’s huge! Say good bye to a small forest of old trees..
They thought about the scale of wood. The intent is to use Trestlewood, which is wood reclaimed from long abandoned railroad tracks that stretched across the salty earth near the Great Salt Lake. The wood piles they used to support the tracks/trains were huge, and they have been marinating in salt water for more than a hundred years. This salty solution acts as a preservative for the wood.
So no, a small forest of trees wouldn’t be decimated. It’s actually reclaimed wood from a local source.
I think this project would be quite a beautiful addition to Park City, and Utah in general.
I was wondering about the size of the timber myself, so if the reclaiming of wood from unused railroad tracks is true, I’m all for this project.
The ugliest project ever designed. Even the candyfloss rendered illusions cannot save it form the fact that it is balls! Absolute RUBBISH!!!!