THE NEW CLARK
I like to accomplish art spaces that inspire viewers and evoke their creativity and freedom of thinking,” says Ando. “I have always been in awe of the Clark’s unique sense of place in nature. In both the Clark Center and the Lunder Center at Stone Hill, I have tried to express a deep respect for the landscape outside and an equal reverence for the art inside. It is critical that the art speak for itself and that viewers experience it in their own way.
-- Tadao Ando
The renovated and expanded Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts opened to the public in July 2014. The project, which began in 2001, had three phases: the renovation and redesign of the existing buildings; the building, at a remove from the original buildings, of the Stone Hill conservation center; and the building of a visitor center to link the disparate sites together. The project's architects were guided by the original wishes of the founders that the gallery spaces be "domestic" in scale, clearly lit, and provide views of the Berkshires countryside. Unlike the Barnes Foundation or the Walters Art Gallery, both of which opted to violate the conditions of their founding bequest in order to expand and alter their institutional profile, the Clark trustees made the bold decision to implement the founders vision more fully than the original building campaign had done.
The renovation and expansion of the existing buildings by architect Annabelle Selldorf began in 2007. The original museum, built by Daniel Perry in 1952-55 at the height of the Cold War under Sterling Clark's direct supervision, was a neoclassical fall-out shelter--a reinforced concrete bunker designed to withstand a nuclear strike against Williamstown and preserve French Impressionism for generations to come; to this uncongenial monument, the Manton Research Center, designed by Brutalist architect Pietro Belluschi was added in 1973. Selldorff reorganized the layouts of both, gaining some 2,200 sq ft of gallery space and highlighting the collection's strengths in decorative arts. The Belluschi building is now the home of a paper convervation center
The new buildings are the work of Tadao Ando, the Japanese winner of the Pritzker Prize in 1995. The first to be built was the Lunder Center at Stone Hill, a conservation center set on a hill, at the end of a winding path. Completed in 2008, the Stone Hill outpost offers spectacular views of the Taconic Range, the Green Mountains, and Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts. The showpiece of the renovation project, the Clark Center, also designed by Ando, serves as an entrance hall to the museum building. Partially built below grade, the sleek, minimalist structure comprises 11,000 sq. ft. of temporary exhibition space, a retail facility and the Café Seven.
The Clarks' concern for preserving the natural setting was taken as a mandate for full environmental sustainability. As the Institute is situated on wetlands, the landscape architecture firm Reed Hilderbrand designed a series of reflecting pools, which at first seem purely decorative, but in fact serve as a water management and recycling system. The woodland trails around the property were expanded and integrated into visitor traffic patterns (the uphill walk to the Stone Hill Center will qualify as a hike for some visitors).
Current exhibitions at the new Clark include Make It New: Abstract Painting from the National Gallery of Art, 1950–1975 (2 August – 13 October 2014) and Cast for Eternity Ancient Ritual Bronzes from the Shanghai Museum (4 July –21 September 2014).