OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.
21c Museum Hotels launched its sixth property, located in downtown Oklahoma City, Okla. 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City is an adaptive reuse of the Oklahoma City Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant.
The new facility offers 14,000 square feet of contemporary art exhibition space open free of charge to the public, a 135-room boutique hotel and Mary Eddy’s Kitchen x Lounge.
“When we opened the first 21c in Louisville ten years ago, we wanted to help revitalize a once-vibrant area on West Main Street in Louisville,” said Steve Wilson, founder and CEO of 21c Museum Hotels. “We saw a similar opportunity here in OKC, on the western edge of downtown and, to be a cultural catalyst and agent of forward-thinking change on Main Street, in an area with a rich, storied past.”
Contemporary art is at the heart of the 21c experience. The company was founded by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, contemporary art collectors and preservationists. 21c Oklahoma City will present rotating solo and group exhibitions, site-specific installations and a full roster of programming.
The design team, led by New York-based Design Architect Deborah Berke Partners and Executive Architect Hornbeek Blatt Architects of Edmond, Okla., sought to create a contemporary interpretation of the building’s automotive legacy and assembly plant heritage throughout. The design aims to take full advantage of the scale of the building with spaces that are open, light-filled and sculpturally expressive.
The property’s museum space doubles as meeting and event space, and can accommodate a wide variety of events from board retreats and intimate cocktail parties to a reception-style wedding for 500.
The unique circular Main Gallery, and adjoining Gallery 1 is said to be a nimble event space, with velvet drapery, movable partitions and a private full-service bar. The Main Gallery is home to Spinning Wheel of Life, an artwork by Gunilla Klingberg commissioned for the space, featuring ubiquitous urban signage and symbols in die cut metal embedded into the floor in a repeating kaleidoscopic pattern.
The meeting galleries and event spaces were also updated with modern AV technology.
