![Institute of Contemporary Art / Diller Scofidio + Renfro - Exterior Photography, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5b32/bb15/f197/cc67/3400/0348/newsletter/01_ICA_Exterior_at_Dusk.jpg?1530051321)
-
Architects: Diller Scofidio + Renfro
- Area: 65000 ft²
- Year: 2006
-
Photographs:Nic Lehoux
-
Manufacturers: Bendheim, Lamberts, Pilkington, Sto, Design Communications, Karas and Karas Glas, Naturally Durable, Oldcastle APG, Wausau Window and Wall Systems
-
Lead Architect: Diller Sofidio + Renfro
![Institute of Contemporary Art / Diller Scofidio + Renfro - Image 9 of 18](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5b32/ba88/f197/cc88/af00/07bc/newsletter/01_ICA_Grandstand.jpg?1530051200)
![Institute of Contemporary Art / Diller Scofidio + Renfro - Interior Photography, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5b32/bb47/f197/cc88/af00/07be/newsletter/04_ICA_Mediatheque.jpg?1530051377)
Text description provided by the architects. The ICA is the first museum to be built in Boston in 100 years. The 65,000 sf building includes temporary and permanent galleries, a 330 seat multi–purpose theater, a restaurant, bookstore, education/workshop facilities, and administrative offices. It straddles the competing objectives of a dynamic civic building for public programs and an intimate, contemplative environment for viewing art.
![Institute of Contemporary Art / Diller Scofidio + Renfro - Interior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5b32/bb99/f197/cc67/3400/034b/newsletter/07_ICA_Gallery_View_2.jpg?1530051458)
![Institute of Contemporary Art / Diller Scofidio + Renfro - Image 18 of 18](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5b32/be44/f197/cc88/af00/07c7/newsletter/ICAA3-0.01-001.jpg?1530052145)
![Institute of Contemporary Art / Diller Scofidio + Renfro - Interior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5b32/bb60/f197/cc67/3400/0349/newsletter/05_ICA_Elevator_View.jpg?1530051403)
The site is bound on two sides by the Harbor Walk, a 47–mile public walkway. The Harborwalk is used as a civic surface that extends up to form the public grandstand, flattens into the theater stage, and wraps the surfaces of the theater extending into a horizontal tray that holds the gallery and shelters the grandstand. The waterfront is both a great asset for the museum and a distraction from its inwardly focused program.
![Institute of Contemporary Art / Diller Scofidio + Renfro - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5b32/baae/f197/cc88/af00/07bd/medium_jpg/03_ICA_Founders_Gallery.jpg?1530051234)
A choreographed passage through the building dispenses the visual context in small doses. Upon entry, the view is compressed under the belly of the theater, then scanned by the glass elevator, used as a variable backdrop in the theater, denied entirely in the galleries, and revealed as a panorama at the crossover gallery. The mediatheque suspended under the cantilever edits the context from view, leaving only the texture of water. The Institute of Contemporary Art is a collaboration with Perry Dean Rogers as Associate Architect.
![Institute of Contemporary Art / Diller Scofidio + Renfro - Exterior Photography, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5b32/ba9e/f197/cc67/3400/0345/medium_jpg/02_ICA_EXT_Portrait.jpg?1530051216)