Utah Museum of Fine Arts
A Landmark Museum
The site for the Marcia and John Price Museum Building is located at the southern end of the campus mall, creating a strong physical terminus to an important vista. In response to the language of the campus architecture (primarily built in the 1960s), the building comprises strong rectangular volumes that step up around a centrally located grand gallery.
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Client: The University of Utah
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Year: 1998-2000
Status: Built
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Honor Award | American Institute of Architects Utah Chapter | 2001
Honor Award | Boston Society of Architects | 2000
Award for Design | AIA New England | 2000
First Prize | Marcia and John Price Museum Building Competition | 1998
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Cramer, Ned. "Accounting for Taste: Rodolfo Machado and Jorge Silvetti take (and give) pleasure in the severity of their new Utah Museum of Fine Arts." Architecture, November 2001: p. 108-117.
Taggart, Brian. "A New Museum as Campus Focal Point: University of Utah Fine Arts Museum Competition," Competitions, Fall 1998, pp. 24-41.
Site
Volumes & Brick Patterns
Five distinct volumes rest atop a concrete plinth, each distinguished by differing brick patterns to present the building as a procession not only in height but also in color from dark to light. Two window types punctuate these volumes: horizontal recessed windows and projected windows.
Program
Clad in zinc sheet metal and containing clear anodized aluminum window systems, the varying proportions of these windows as they relate to the building volumes present an abstract appearance. The composition of the museum is further orchestrated by a stair that starts from the campus mall outside and leads the visitor through the museum entry, into the grand gallery and finally to a grand stair that connects with the upper levels of gallery space. The stair terminates with a sculpture window oriented toward Mt. Olympus. The museum’s ground floor contains the grand gallery, temporary galleries, an art education center, a bookstore, a café and an auditorium. At the museum’s center, the fifty-five foot tall grand gallery serves as the most symbolic element of the building, surmounted by a semi-translucent clerestory and punctuated by a large projected window. The second floor contains galleries for the permanent collection, administrative offices and a library.