Allied Works Architecture
Clyfford Still Museum
Denver, Colorado
Intimate, light-filled spaces for the study and enjoyment of the Still Collection
Image courtesy Allied Works Architecture
The Clyfford Still Museum recently unveiled the design for its future home in Denver, scheduled to open to the public in 2010.
Located in the heart of the Civic Center Cultural Complex, near the Denver Art Museum and its new Daniel Libeskind designed building, the Denver Public Library, designed by Michael Graves, and the Colorado History Museum, the Clyfford Still Museum will further enhance the cultural and architectural dialogue.
The design envisions a dense, cantilevered, two-story structure made of highly textured and resurfaced concrete, designed to modify light on both the exterior and interior of the museum. The building will receive full benefits of natural light, which will be filtered into the museum through a clerestory on the second floor.
Image courtesy Allied Works Architecture
Image courtesy Allied Works Architecture
The textured concrete walls will diffuse and capture light in the museum galleries, and will give the building a visceral, tactile quality on the outside.
Image courtesy Allied Works Architecture
A cantilevered canopy of concrete, extending from underneath the second floor and forming the structure of the second-floor galleries, will draw visitors from a landscaped forecourt into the museum lobby and reception area. Glass walls will allow the public to see into the conservation studio and collection storage on the first floor.
Image courtesy Allied Works Architecture
Connecting these amenities is an open, double-high corridor that will provide visitors glimpses of the artwork in the galleries above and views from the second floor into study areas below.
This open corridor, which will also include educational facilities, speaks to the institution’s founding principle of revealing this once-private collection to the public and lends transparency to the museum experience.
Image courtesy Allied Works Architecture
Image courtesy Allied Works Architecture
A wooden staircase will lead visitors to the museum’s second floor, which features a series of eleven distinct galleries. The galleries will respond to specific needs of the collection and will have varying proportions and ceiling heights, echoed on the exterior in differing roof lines. A raised ceiling or clerestory will diffuse daylight into the galleries, providing variegated tonalities of light from room to room. The building will create a powerful viewing experience, enlivened by natural light and a sense of intimacy with the artwork.
Image courtesy Allied Works Architecture
The museum will reintroduce Still’s body of work to the public for the first time in over two decades and will further establish Denver as an international center for art and culture.
“Brad Cloepfil has created a compelling design that reveals a deep understanding of our goals and collection needs as a single-artist institution.”
Dean Sobel,
Director Clyfford Still Museum.
Sketch courtesy Allied Works Architecture
Concept Sketch
Image courtesy Allied Works Architecture
Study Model
Drawing courtesy Allied Works Architecture
Site Plan
Drawing courtesy Allied Works Architecture
Entry Level Plan
Drawing courtesy Allied Works Architecture
Gallery Level Plan
Drawing courtesy Allied Works Architecture
North South Section
Drawing courtesy Allied Works Architecture
East West Section
Total area: 31,500 square feet
Galleries: 10,000 square feet
Projected Opening Date: 2010
Client: Clyfford Still Museum
Architect: Brad Cloepfil, Allied Works Architecture
Project Management: Romani Group Inc., Denver, CO
Pre-Construction Services:
Saunders Construction Inc., Centennial, CO
Allied Works Architecture arcspace features
May 12, 2008