...unique and of this time but timeless in its restraint -jones
p r o j e c t Lenora c l i e n t San
& Walter F. Brown Asian Art Wing, San Antonio
Antonio Museum of Art
a r c h i t e c t Overland
Partners
d e s i g n t e a m Timothy
Blonkvist, FAIA; Rick Archer, FAIA; Robert Shemwell, FAIA; Jeff Russell, AIA;
Greg Snow c o n t r a c t o r Browning
Construction Company
c o n s u l t a n t s Goetting
& Associates (MEP); Pape-Dawson (civil); Lundy & Franke Engineering (struc-
tural); Clifford LaFontaine (exhibits); Bos Lighting (lighting); R.A. Heintges Architects Consultants (curtainwall); Project Control (project management); Protection Development (fire/security); Jack White & Associates (waterproofing) p h o t o g r a p h e r s Paul
Bardagjy Photography, Terry Manning Photography
Illustration by Bryce Weigand
A
glow at night like a gigantic Chinese paper lantern, the Lenora and Walter F. Brown Asian Art Wing, designed by Overland Partners of San Antonio, inserts a luminous minimalism into the crenellated, century-old former Lone Star Brewery that houses the San Antonio Museum of Art. The architects have maintained the subtle rhythms of the circa-1900 brewery while deftly introducing a sleek, modern horizontal complement to the venerable, vertical brick structure. Opened in 2005, the Asian Wing comprises two levels set atop a onestory segment of the original brewery complex. An aluminum skin encases the addition’s windowless lower level while its upper floor is enveloped by a sophisticated glazing system that along the southern elevation resembles a series of rice-paper shoji screens. By appropriating such an obvious Oriental metaphor, the architects risked tipping toward caricature. However, their design for the addition’s exterior expression handily resolved the challenge of grafting a new project onto a historic building while also cleverly conveying a sense of what lies within. Inside, priceless collections of Asian artwork are exhibited in galleries arrayed on two levels, arranged in a series of spaces encompassing 13,000 square feet. While the architects considered other museums of Asian art – specifically, the Museum of Oriental Ceramics in Osaka and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco – they turned instead to the artwork for inspiration. “The museum wing was designed to house a very specific Asian collection. So the design concepts, though clearly related to our time and place and the specific historic context, were largely drawn from the collection itself and from the cultures that created these magnificent works of art,” says Overland principal Rick Archer, FAIA. “We studied the specific objects, drawing inspiration from things such as glazes on Chinese porcelains and the lacquered Japanese boxes with their intricate detail and perfectly organized compartments.” A meandering layout in the addition allows for a sense of discovery, as each turn presents another encased object or grouping on display. Circulation was important, Archer says, in the sense that it would loop through the two-level Asian Art Wing while also providing visitors with
9 / 1 0
2 0 0 9
t e x a s
a r c h i t e c t
77