RECOLLECTING FORWARD

The design strategy for the Queens Museum of Art uncovers the organizational strengths of the original building and simultaneously suggests new prospects for public participation, exhibition and performance.



SITE

The New York City Building was constructed as the cities pavilion for the 1939 World’s Fair. From 1946 to 1950 the building served as the first home of the United Nations before moving to it’s current location. The building was once again used as New York City's pavilion in the 1964 World’s Fair. The Queens Museum of Art was founded in 1972 in the northern half of the building, and is now expanding into the entirety of the New York City Building.

THE MAIN EVENT

The initial design gesture is surgical - the center portion of the building is removed exposing the panorama enclosure as a primary solid. Steel roof trusses remain and a re-enclosed central volume surrounding the panorama becomes the spatial main event for public promenade, art display, music performance, dramatic presentation and a multipurpose space for artist expression. The original floor is removed and the earth excavated, leaving a bowl, gently sloping toward a theoretical center at the base of the panorama. Temporary seating, oriented toward the panorama, can be placed within the bowl and exhibits can be mounted variously over the sloping surfaces.

THE HIGHWAY

Pedestrian circulation on the site has been redirected from the Beaux Arts axis, passing around the perimeter of the new event space, viewing the exhibits without actually entering the museum. The intent of this cross-purpose, “short-cut”, circulation is to expose the broader public to contemporary art.

THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN

The earth excavated from the bowl is re-used, stacked as a linear, acoustic mountain east of the museum on the edge of the parkway. The mountain will become a sculpture garden viewed from the museum, from passing automobiles and most importantly from along a pedestrian walkway, re-directing the public from the zoo, over the mountain/sculpture garden into (or through) the main event space.

THE DRAPE

A laminated glass “drape” re-encloses the main event area. The glass will be transparent, translucent, or opaque by turn depending on the exhibits within. Glass color is controlled by low voltage wires, which alter the glass from clear to opaque white.

"This scheme created what’s frankly a magnificent event in the center of the existing facade. EOM had clearly thought everything through.”
- Anne Papageorge, Juror



Program: Art museum

Area: 100,000 sq ft

Selected Awards:

International Design Competition Winner, 2001

Selected Publications:

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD “Queens Museum Drops Eric Owen Moss from Renovation” March, 2005
NY Times “Queens Museum is to Redesign a Redesign” January 26, 2005
The Architects Newspaper (NYC), “Moss Still Growing in Queens” by William Menking, February 3, 2004
Queens Tribune, “The Queens Museum of Art: Framing the Future”, by Angela Montefinise and Tamara Hartman, July 25-31, 2002.
Concept (Korea), “1st Prize, Queens Museum of Art Competition, Eric Owen Moss,” April 2002
Domus (Italy), “New American Museums,” Queens Museum of Art, March 2002


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