Blaffer Art Museum

28. October 2013

Blaffer Art Museum
2012
Houston, Texas

Client
Blaffer Art Museum, University of Texas

Architect
WORK Architecture Company
New York, NY

Design Principals
Dan Wood, Amale Andraos

Project Team
Anne Menke

Associate Architect
Gensler, Houston

Structural Engineer
Matrix Structural Engineers

MEP/FP Engineer
Shah Smith & Associates

Landscape Architect
SCAPE

Lighting Designer
Tillotson Design Associates

Contractor
Vaughn Construction

Envelope Consultant
BES Group

Cast Channel Glass
Bendheim Wall Systems

Cable Mesh
Carl Stahl DécorCable X-Tend System

Brick Pavers
Stepstone Narrow Modular Pavers

Building Area
20,000 sf

Photos
Iwan Baan

Drawings
Work Architecture Company

As concrete buildings in the United States from the 1960s and 70s are faced with either demolition or renovation, hopefully projects like the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston point the way to the latter. WORKac's small yet dramatic addition and renovation gives the museum a stronger entrance and identity than the 1973 building it shares with the art school previously enabled. The architects answered a few questions about the project.

Front Entrance

Can you describe your design process for the building?

We really started with a series of constraints: the budget, the internal circulation, and the lack of an institutional presence. To save money we then utilized new circulation to form the image of the building, tying together the three constraints into a strategic solution.

Front Entrance

How does the completed building compare to the project as designed? Were there any dramatic changes between the two and/or lessons learned during construction?

Due to the fast-track nature of the process and the involvement of the general contractor from the very beginning, the final result is very close to the original design, with only some minor modifications due to the budget.

Front Entrance

How does the building compare to other projects in your office, be it the same or other building types?

For us, it was a real step forward for the office – our most significant completed project outside of New York, our first real art museum and first university campus building.

Front Staircase

Are there any new/upcoming projects in your office that this building’s design and construction has influenced?

We were able to use some of our favorite materials, such as channel glass, in new ways and to incorporate some new details that we are now applying to other projects in the office.

Reception

How would you describe the architecture of Texas and how does the building relate to it?

Many Texas buildings – especially those that, like the original Blaffer, were built in the 1970s on university campuses – were designed to improve energy efficiency and cut down on exposure to the Texan sun by limiting the amount of windows. I think this also has something to do with the campus protests of the 1960s and a kind of "bunker mentality" with the net result of a kind of fortress-like anonymity to the outside world. We were able to take advantage of the Northern exposure of the building to really open up the façade, giving the Blaffer a much more public presence and – by extension – opening up the campus to the city.

Email interview conducted by John Hill.