At many new and recently expanded museums, the building itself is the star attraction.
Just a year after the 1997 debut of architect Frank Gehry’s splashy Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain, the museum attracted over 1.3 million visitors. Even larger crowds were drawn to San Francisco’s de Young Museum, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Swiss architects, during the year following its 2005 opening in Golden Gate Park.
The trend toward big-name architects for museum constructions continues nationwide, from Daniel Libeskind’s expansion of the Denver Art Museum, an artwork in its own right, to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
“One of the things we are seeing, it appears that more museums think imaginatively about how to convey their subject matter to a broader array of public than in the past,” says Jason Hall, director of government and media relations for the American Association of Museums (AAM).
“I think this is in part a reaction to certain kinds of museums—children’s museums and science technology centers—that have been focusing on imaginative outreach from the get-go,” Hall continues. “These are newer museums. Over time, art and history museums looked at the experience of their brethren who have been successful in attracting folks.”
Increasingly, these institutions are opening their doors to groups. According to data from AAM, 70 percent of museums, including historic sites, zoos and arboretums, rent space to groups for events.
The DMC is seeing more interest in the Denver Art Museum as an event space since its recent expansion.
“Groups are looking for something unique,” Babiarz says. “They used to not want to go to museums because they would say, ‘We have that in Madrid or New York,’ but now the Denver Art Museum is so unique.”
Libeskind designed the museum’s new Hamilton Building. Though groups cannot yet use the space, which is restricted for now to donors and trustees, they can incorporate tours of the new facility while hosting events at the original North Building.
“We’ve actually had tremendous response to the new building,” says Peter Tom, external events coordinator for the museum. “When you have a private evening event you can open any floor in either building. Groups can have a dinner party in North Building and can open galleries in the Hamilton Building.”
The largest rental space in the North Building spans 5,200 square feet, with room for up to 500 people standing, while the museum on the whole can hold up to 2,000.
In Atlanta, the High Museum of Art two years ago completed an expansion designed by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano, who created three new buildings surrounding a public piazza that altogether more than doubled the museum’s size to 312,000 square feet.
The Genoa, Italy-based Renzo Piano Building Workshop collaborated with an Atlanta-based architecture firm to design the three new buildings: the Susan and John Wieland Pavilion, the Anne Cox Chambers Wing and the Administrative Center. Glass-enclosed pedestrian bridges link the Wieland Pavilion to the Stent Family Wing at the lobby and skyway levels, as well as link the Pavilion to the second and third floors of the Anne Cox Chambers Wing.
“It’s not a new trend toward using museums,” says Richard Jones, director of sales for local DMC Presenting Atlanta. “Where the trend is, is that museums are being smarter not offering events as an afterthought.”
Jones cites the Georgia Aquarium, which opened in 2005 as the world’s largest aquarium, as a prime example of a facility planning ahead to cater to groups.
“Before taking pen to paper they knew they wanted to make it self-sustaining. They built a ballroom to do events,” Jones explains.
The aquarium’s 16,400-square-foot Oceans Ballroom, with windows overlooking the display tanks, was specifically tailored to host groups. The ballroom seats up to 1,100 for dinner or up to 2,000 for a reception. More intimate spaces are available for private gatherings.
“There are times for a citywide convention, when people are competing for attendees. If the event is at an aquarium, they will get more attendance,” Jones says.
Renzo Piano is also the architect behind the upcoming California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, collaborating with another local firm.
In late 2008, the California Academy of Sciences will relocate in a new facility back in its original home in Golden Gate Park. One of the spotlights is the new building’s green technology, such as wind-capture ventilation, gray water recycling systems, organic-concept food services, and furnishings made with sustainable resources.
The Academy includes the Natural History Museum, Morrison Planetarium and the Steinhart Aquarium, which is particularly attractive to groups.
“A hotel is four walls, here we have living creatures,” says Anne Rianda, special events manager for the California Academy of Sciences. “People can have an interactive experience, which offers so much more than eating and drinking.”
According to Rianda, calls are already pouring in for facility rentals, including everyone from sister institutions to big-name high-tech companies.
The Milwaukee Art Museum, which expanded in 2001 with the Quadracci Pavilion, the first Santiago Calatrava-designed building in the U.S., is also well-equipped for groups. Its highlight is a 90-foot-high glass-walled reception hall enclosed by the Burke Brise Soleil, a sunscreen that can be raised or lowered, creating the effect of a moving sculpture.
“We’re an icon in the city. Events held here give prestige, but also have the visitor service of airport hotels or convention centers,” says John Eding, media relations manager at the museum.
Groups can use the reception hall as well as a 265-seat auditorium, terrace, museum cafe, and small meeting rooms.
This year the Seattle Art Museum introduced an expansion, including the new nine-acre, waterfront Olympic Sculpture Park, with a 7,000-square-foot pavilion open to groups.
This outdoor urban retreat caters to everything from corporate parties to “management head-clearing sessions,” according to John Ferguson, facilities marketing manager for the Seattle Art Museum.
“I am seeing event planners under pressure to find something different and inspiring,” Ferguson says. “They will call me after doing an event at a conventional hotel and are charged with finding a new place that is different so more people are inclined to attend.”
Special events can also be arranged at the sculpture park, including microbrew tastings and Riesling seminars.
The downtown museum building itself unveiled its expansion last May with 118,000 square feet of new space, and the ability to expand into additional space in phases.
Kansas City, Mo., took the wraps off its Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art expansion this summer, showcasing its new 165,000-square-foot Bloch Building, the majority of which sits underground. Architect Steven Holl is known for the Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland.
The Bloch Building features five freestanding structures, or “lenses,” that emerge from the ground, each with vaulted ceilings, as well as a court dedicated to the art of sculptor Isamu Noguchi. A large reflecting pool, incorporating an installation by artist Walter De Maria, lies at the entry plaza between the Nelson-Atkins and Bloch buildings, and a Sculpture Hall also links the two.
The Bloch Building is home to the largest collection of Hallmark photography in the country.
Groups can host cocktail parties for up to 1,000 using both buildings.
“It’s really a stunning property in our area,” says Molly Fulton, special events manager for the Akron Art Museum.
Aside from some 20,000 extra square feet of gallery space, the new John S. and James L. Knight Building features the Crystal, a three-story glass lobby that serves as the public entry and a focal space connecting the museum’s art, education, administration, and public program spaces.
On the horizon, in late 2009 Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is slated to open in Bentonville, Ark. The museum will house a permanent collection of signature works from American artists.
The museum complex will encompass a 250-seat indoor auditorium for receptions and dinners; areas for outdoor concerts; and gallery rooms suitable for large receptions.
