The new Haub Family Galleries at the Tacoma Art Museum (TAM), designed by Seattle-based Olson Kundig Architects, opened to the public last week. The galleries, together with a new entry plaza, mark the firm's first museum project and expand the museum’s existing Antoine Predock-designed structure by 16,000 sf.
Bringing several new iconic features to the museum’s interior and exterior, the Haub Family Galleries double the museum’s gallery space and will house the newly acquired Haub Family Collection of Western American Art, consisting of nearly 300 works. The Haub Family Galleries reflect the surrounding environment through the creative use of industrial elements, an earthy palette of materials, and mechanical features that allows the building to respond to its environment while helping to engage visitors.
The design inspiration for the new building comes directly from the rich historical context of Tacoma and the surrounding landscape—a city and region shaped through its interwoven connections to shipping, logging and railroading. That legacy has resulted in a contemporary building that is respectful of place, yet of its time.
Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
“Architecturally, the challenges became opportunities,” said Kundig. “It was an opportunity to create new venues to view art. The design takes into account Tacoma’s diverse and historic neighborhoods. The West doesn’t stop in Wyoming. Tacoma, the ‘City of Destiny,’ was the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and played an important part of the larger story of the West.”
The most striking feature of the new Haub Family Galleries building is a 34-foot-tall entry canopy that soars over the existing museum and expansion, adjoining the two spaces together. The canopy transforms the outdoor plaza into a public gathering space and is made using a combination of aluminum grating and stainless steel panels, which were reused from selectively demolished portions of the existing building.
Further enhancing the museum’s visual impact along Pacific Avenue, the Haub Family Galleries also feature sliding sun screens made of Richlite, a sustainable material made locally in Tacoma from recycled paper, organic fiber and phenolic resin. The roughly 16-foot-tall, 17-foot-tall screens, operated by a hand wheel, roll like railroad box car doors across the façade and interlace with a set of fixed screens. The screens pair form and function by referencing Tacoma’s industrial history while allowing the museum to control the amount of natural light in the space.
Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
The overall program for the TAM expansion includes 7,000 sf of new gallery space dedicated to the Haub Family Collection, 3,500 sf of new back-of-house service and mechanical space, and 3,000 sf of interior renovations in the existing facility for lobby, bookstore, café, and restrooms. The newly revised lobby and entry sequence encourages movement into and through the museum. Sustainable features include reduced water usage with adaptive landscape vegetation and low flow water fixtures, high efficiency mechanical and LED lighting systems, and the incorporation of reclaimed materials from the existing site.
The Olson Kundig Architects design team for the Haub Family Galleries was led by Design Principal Tom Kundig and also includes: Kirsten R. Murray, Principal; Kevin Kudo-King, Principal; Jim Friesz, Project Manager; Thomas Brown, Staff Charlie Fairchild, Interior Design; Naomi Mason, Interior Project Manager; Alan Maskin, Design Principal for the Interactive Art Space.
Photo: Kevin Scott
Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
Related Stories
Museums | Oct 1, 2024
UT Dallas opens Morphosis-designed Crow Museum of Asian Art
In Richardson, Tex., the University of Texas at Dallas has opened a second location for the Crow Museum of Asian Art—the first of multiple buildings that will be part of a 12-acre cultural district. When completed, the arts and performance complex, called the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum, will include two museums, a performance hall and music building, a grand plaza, and a dedicated parking structure on the Richardson campus.
Museums | Aug 29, 2024
Bjarke Ingels' Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art conceived as village of 12 pavilions
The 60,000-sm Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China recently topped out. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the museum is conceived as a village of 12 pavilions, offering a modern interpretation of the elements that have defined the city’s urbanism, architecture, and landscape for centuries.
Cultural Facilities | Aug 21, 2024
Baltimore’s National Aquarium opens 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the harbor’s original tidal marsh habitat
The National Aquarium in Baltimore has opened the National Aquarium Harbor Wetland, a 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the Inner Harbor’s original Chesapeake Bay tidal marsh habitat. Located between Piers 3 and 4 on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the $14 million project features more than 32,000 native shrubs and marsh grasses.
Museums | Aug 19, 2024
The Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a $110 million expansion
In Tampa, Fla., the Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a 77,904-sf Centennial Expansion project. The museum plans to reach its $110 million fundraising goal by late 2024 or early 2025 and then break ground. Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, and with construction manager The Beck Group, the expansion will redefine the museum’s surrounding site.
Museums | Jun 20, 2024
Connecticut’s Bruce Museum more than doubles its size with a 42,000-sf, three-floor addition
In Greenwich, Conn., the Bruce Museum, a multidisciplinary institution highlighting art, science, and history, has undergone a campus revitalization and expansion that more than doubles the museum’s size. Designed by EskewDumezRipple and built by Turner Construction, the project includes a 42,000-sf, three-floor addition as well as a comprehensive renovation of the 32,500-sf museum, which was originally built as a private home in the mid-19th century and expanded in the early 1990s.
Libraries | Jun 7, 2024
7 ways to change 'business as usual': The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
One hundred forty years ago, Theodore Roosevelt had a vision that is being realized today. The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is a cutting-edge example of what’s possible when all seven ambitions are pursued to the fullest from the beginning and integrated into the design at every phase and scale.
Headquarters | Jun 5, 2024
Several new projects are upgrading historic Princeton, N.J.
Multifamily, cultural, and office additions are among the new construction.
Museums | May 20, 2024
Museum design connects art, architecture, and nature
Three recent examples show how landscape views enhance exhibit space.
Cultural Facilities | Apr 8, 2024
Multipurpose sports facility will be first completed building at Obama Presidential Center
When it opens in late 2025, the Home Court will be the first completed space on the Obama Presidential Center campus in Chicago. Located on the southwest corner of the 19.3-acre Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, the Home Court will be the largest gathering space on the campus. Renderings recently have been released of the 45,000-sf multipurpose sports facility and events space designed by Moody Nolan.
Cultural Facilities | Mar 27, 2024
Kansas City’s new Sobela Ocean Aquarium home to nearly 8,000 animals in 34 habitats
Kansas City’s new Sobela Ocean Aquarium is a world-class facility home to nearly 8,000 animals in 34 habitats ranging from small tanks to a giant 400,000-gallon shark tank.
