Jennifer Luce, principal and founder of LUCE et Studio Architects has shared her vision for the Mingei International Museum renovation in San Diego. The design is featured in a video by Jeff Durkin of Breadtruck Films. The Mingei is a nonprofit that collects, conserves and exhibits folk art, craft, and design objects in Balboa Park. During the building’s centennial, a $55 million campaign began to renovate the structure.
Founded in 1978, the Mingei is part of the House of Charm, a Mission Revival-style building. Originally designed as a temporary exhibition space for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, the building will be renovated to better serve the community and connect to the surrounding park. LUCE et studio approached the transformation as an opportunity to provide a ground floor exhibition hall, a new sunken auditorium, and a new staircase and skylight for the building's bell tower.
The studio commissioned Petra Blaisse to create a curtain in the auditorium space, Claudy Jongstra to create a large-scale wool mural for the ground floor, and a hanging glass sculpture by American artist Dale Chihuly for the bell tower. The Mingei is scheduled to reopen to the public in summer 2021.
News via LUCE et Studio Architects
