Between the Lines

摘要

When cass gilbert designed the Palace of Fine Arts, a classical limestone edifice, for the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, it was the only structure intended to remain once that centennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase ended. It still stands today as home to another palace of the arts: the St. Louis Art Museum. After nearly a century in its historic home, the museum, needing more space, decided to expand on its Art Hill site in Forest Park. The museum board turned to London-based architect David Chipperfield, Hon. FAIA, to create a new wing that would "not compete with, nor take away from, the historic stature of the main building," says Roger McFarland, AIA, group vice president at St. Louis-based HOK, which served as the associate architect. The result is a 200,000-square-foot addition that hides parking for 300 cars underneath a single level incorporating 21 new galleries and a new cafe. The structure is largely composed of polished concrete with local river aggregate. The material continues in the building's unifying formal element: a 40,000-square-foot concrete-grid ceiling canopy.