Renzo Piano designed the $294 million Modern Wing for the Chicago Art Institute, completed in 2009. It’s a subtle and fitting new wing for the 1893 Beaux Arts museum.
The 264,000 ft2 space gives plenty of presentation space for contemporary art. Towering walls of limestone recall Chicago’s architectural legacy, the great walls of brick that make up many of its innovative skyscrapers. Vertical repetition of steel with glazing presents modern Chicago’s exciting facades, particularly those by Mies van der Rohe. (See his nearby convention center building.)
Inspired by the museum’s free-floating spiral staircase, a pedestrian walkway soars over the public green space, traverses classical architecture, and enters the structure. Classical Roman lettering on the museum’s title is impressed on free-standing delicate glass. Renzo punctuates the comparison between Modernism and Classical architecture.
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Video: Documentary , Art
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