Re-Opening: The Museum of Arts and Design

Re-Opening: The Museum of Arts and Design

Two Columbus Circle once was a stout-yet-hip white building with black porthole-esque forms around it: channeling 1960s mod better than any building could, courtesy of architect Edward Durell Stone. However in its place as of late is the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD): a new building that both pays homage to the original structure and takes it into the Dubai-led future. The new museum opens to the public September 27.
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The building, dubbed the Chazen building, is the New York debut of architect Brad Cloepfil of Portland's Allied Works Architecture, who beat Zaha Hadid, Toshiko Mori, and Smith-Miller + Hawkinson for the honors of designing the Stone building's reincarnation. He has retained the suggestion of lollipops in the arcade, but has opened up the white façade with slices of glass in order to invite light into the museum's galleries. Simultaneously the terra cotta glaze on the exterior changes in iridescence with the day's changing sunlight: ceramics that nod to the museum's tradition as a center for craft.



The new museum will triple the old building's size to house permanent and temporary collections; a resource center and gallery focusing on jewelry; an education center; open studios for artists in residence; and a restaurant that overlooks Columbus Circle. The first exhibit, Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary features 50 contemporary artists who transform seemingly value-less objects into extraordinary works of art, including works that have never been exhibited in the United States. Also opening is Elegant Armor: The Art of Jewelry in the Tiffany & co. foundation Jewelry Gallery.

Museum of Arts & Design, New York

Museum of Arts & Design, New York

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Jamie Waugh
After starting in design journalism at House & Garden and CNN, Jamie runs the International Design Awards festival, which rewards visionary international design.

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