Going Mad About MAD--The redesign of the new home of the Museum of Arts and Design lets the light in through its glass facade

摘要

The new home of the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) on Columbus Circle in New York City was originally built to house the art collection of A&P heir Huntington Hartford. It was marble-clad with small, porthole style windows. To make the structure suitable for MAD's needs, it had to be redesigned, a task that fell to Brad Cloepfil, founder and principal of Allied Works Architecture in Portland, Ore. His solution: a facade of fritted glass and glazed terra cotta tiles that opens the building up and allows light into its exhibit spaces. In discussing the redesign, MAD director Holly Hotchner says that the architect had been given a directive that they didn't want "another muscular glass tower," but the use of materials that reflected the mission of the museum. "The ceramic frit was an extension of the museum's connection to ceramics," she says.