Located in an ordinary building whose bottom floor is occupied by a bank at 180 N. Michigan Avenue is a museum the likes of which can’t be found anywhere else in the country. The American Writers Museum, a project seven years in the making, officially opened to the public on May 16.
According to project designer Amaze Design, the museum is “the first national museum in the United States dedicated to the celebration of American writers and the exploration of their influences on our history, our identity, our culture, and our daily lives.”
A small museum dedicated to American writers sitting one floor above a bank in a non-descript Chicago building may at first sound like the type of museum you stumble across while on a cross-country road trip: the New England Maple Museum, the National Mustard Museum, or the broadly (and most definitely aptly) titled Museum of the Weird. The American Writers Museum could very easily have taken on the appearance of a musty, forgotten corner of a local library; the acidic, vanilla-laced smell of old books heavy in the air.
Photo courtesy of Amaze Design.
The museum didn’t go in that direction, however. Instead, perhaps ironically, the museum dedicated to the greatest Americans to ever lay ink on paper integrates a heavy dose of technology into the museum’s 10,000 sf.
Bright colors, colored lights, and large, interactive touchscreens highlight the space. “The museum covers the breadth and range of American writers through unexpected, in-depth, immersive, and hands-on exhibits,” according to the architect.
Photo courtesy of Amaze Design.
Included in the museum are permanent exhibitions highlighting Chicago writers, a children’s literature gallery, and a “Word Waterfall.” Current temporary exhibits include Jack Kerouac’s original manuscript scroll for On the Road and Palm, an exhibit inspired by the life and work of the American poet W.S. Merwin.
Amaze Design was responsible for all design, research, media production, and fabrication and installation, which were accomplished through collaborative partnerships.
The project had a budget of $10 million.
Photo courtesy of Amaze Design.
Photo courtesy of Amaze Design.
Related Stories
| Apr 24, 2014
Unbuilt and Famous: LEGO releases box set of Bjarke Ingels' LEGO museum
LEGO Architecture has created a box set that customers can use to build replicas of the LEGO Museum, which is not yet built in real life. The museum, designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group, will commemorate the history of LEGO.
| Apr 18, 2014
Multi-level design elevates Bulgarian Children's Museum [slideshow]
Embodying the theme “little mountains,” the 35,000-sf museum will be located in a former college laboratory building in the Studenski-grad university precinct.
| Apr 16, 2014
Upgrading windows: repair, refurbish, or retrofit [AIA course]
Building Teams must focus on a number of key decisions in order to arrive at the optimal solution: repair the windows in place, remove and refurbish them, or opt for full replacement.
| Apr 15, 2014
12 award-winning structural steel buildings
Zaha Hadid's Broad Art Museum and One World Trade Center are among the projects honored by the American Institute of Steel Construction for excellence in structural steel design.
| Apr 9, 2014
Colossal aquarium in China sets five Guinness World Records
With its seven salt and fresh water aquariums, totaling 12.87 million gallons, the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom theme park is considered the world’s largest aquarium.
| Apr 9, 2014
Steel decks: 11 tips for their proper use | BD+C
Building Teams have been using steel decks with proven success for 75 years. Building Design+Construction consulted with technical experts from the Steel Deck Institute and the deck manufacturing industry for their advice on how best to use steel decking.
| Apr 2, 2014
8 tips for avoiding thermal bridges in window applications
Aligning thermal breaks and applying air barriers are among the top design and installation tricks recommended by building enclosure experts.
| Mar 26, 2014
Callison launches sustainable design tool with 84 proven strategies
Hybrid ventilation, nighttime cooling, and fuel cell technology are among the dozens of sustainable design techniques profiled by Callison on its new website, Matrix.Callison.com.
Sponsored | | Mar 21, 2014
Kameleon Color paint creates color-changing, iridescent exterior for Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral
Linetec finishes Firestone’s UNA-CLAD panels, achieving a one-of-a-kind, dynamic appearance with the first use of Valspar’s new Kameleon Color
| Mar 20, 2014
Common EIFS failures, and how to prevent them
Poor workmanship, impact damage, building movement, and incompatible or unsound substrate are among the major culprits of EIFS problems.
