I don’t recall any discussion on this thread about the expansion of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art (here’s hoping that Greensburg is not too far afield to be included on the Pittsburgh page) but it’s a good project and worthy of mention.
Here is a link to an article from the Tribune-Review that explains the project and shows two current renderings of the project:
http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/3506954-74/museum-board-expansion#axzz2aMAeOFl6
ENNEAD, the New York-based architecture firm that won the design competition, has come up with an interesting plan that provides the additional gallery and classroom space needed by the museum while also dealing with the aesthetic issues of the original building. The current building has an interesting history. In the late 50’s or very early 60s, the museum Board hired Philip Johnson to design its new museum. As Johnson was already one of the country’s most prominent modernists, it was a bold choice for a small regional art museum, particularly one located in Western Pennsylvania. Turned out that the Board loved the layout and look of the galleries in Johnson’s design but hated the exterior (too sterile and too modern) so much that Johnson was dumped and another firm was retained to do the design. This second firm, apparently, simply copied Johnson’s interiors and altered the exterior design by adding Georgian columns and pediment and lots of red brick. The result was awkward---the galleries were great but contained within an exterior that has always seemed oddly scaled and somehow wrong. The ENNEAD project, which is LEED Silver, adds a daring, new East Wing while masking the entire original façade behind a large glass curtain wall that protects a new interior walkway.
The project must be underway or about to start, as the museum has recently reinstalled its collection in a former furniture store on Route 30 so it can be viewed until the expanded museum is finished.
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