Moshe Safdie's expansion of the Peabody Essex Museum gives a community a light-filled cultural center

摘要

As America's oldest continuously operating museum, the Peabody Essex in Salem, Massachusetts, has built a consider-able collection of Asian, African, and American artifacts, totaling 2.4 million pieces. Yet until recently, many of the treasures had never been publicly displayed. Last year, the museum resolved its exhibition-space dilemma with the opening of a 111,000-square-foot addition designed by Moshe Safdie and Associates. The new skylit galleries and transparent public areas nearly double the previous exhibition space and anchor an existing campus of 24 historic properties dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, including a Chinese merchant's house from the late Qing Dynasty recently showcased in the enhanced space. Working with Safdie, lighting design consultants Fisher Marantz Stone created a balance of daylight and electric lighting that complements the exhibitions and adds flexibility while enhancing the museum experience with a connection between indoors and out.