Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont is one of North America’s finest, most diverse and unconventional museums of art, design and Americana. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in a remarkable setting of 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds.
Ann Beha Architects’ design for Shelburne’s new center for art and education establishes a striking presence along Vermont’s Route 7. This project is part of the Museum’s $14M capital campaign. Construction is tentatively planned to start next year with the center opening in 2013.
Architecture is often considered a social art of function adjustment that seeks an implicit idea of permanence and formal consistency. This usually results in a demand for a creation that sustains the progress of time in an attitude of survival and maturation. However, on this intervention by architecture firms FREE and OODA, the building’s integration and urban landscape was based on the awareness of the direct relationship that the site has with works by internationally renowned architects (SANAA and Alcino Soutinho) and in compliance with the heterogeneity of the surrounding urban fabric. Thus, the building assumes its identity but deliberately quiet and in continuity with the pre-existence. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The project includes the renovation and transformation of two existing buildings and an extension facilitating groups of children and workshops. Furthermore the project offers a remodeling of the exterior landscape and playground. More information and complete architect’s description after the break.