Parrish Art Museum Building, Long Island New York Project, Water Mill NY Design Photos, US News

Parrish Art Museum, Long Island : New York

Building at Water Mill, NY, USA design by Herzog & de Meuron architects

Nov 27, 2012

Design: Herzog & de Meuron

Location: Water Mill, NY, United States

Design Statement from Herzog & de Meuron

photograph : Jeff Cully

Parrish Art Museum on Long Island

The starting point for the new Parrish Art Museum is the artist’s studio in the East End of Long Island. We set the basic parameters for a single gallery space by distilling the studio’s proportions and adopting its simple house section with north-facing skylights. Two of these model galleries form wings around a central circulation spine that is then bracketed by two porches to form the basis of a straightforward building extrusion.

photos : Jeff Cully

The floor plan of this extrusion is a direct translation of the ideal functional layout. A cluster of ten galleries defines the heart of the museum. The size and proportion of these galleries can be easily adapted by re-arranging partition walls within the given structural grid. To the east of the gallery core are located the back of house functions of administration, storage, workshops and loading dock. To the west of the galleries are housed the public program areas of the lobby, shop, and café with a flexible multi-purpose and educational space at the far western end.

pictures Courtesy Herzog & de Meuron, from Parrish Art Museum

An ordered sequence of post, beam and truss defines the unifying backbone of the building. Its materialisation is a direct expression of readily accessible building materials and local construction methods. The exterior walls of in situ concrete act as long bookends to the overall building form, while the grand scale of these elemental walls is tempered with a continuous bench formed at its base for sitting and viewing the surrounding landscape. Large overhangs running the full length of the building provide shelter for outdoor porches and terraces.

pictures Courtesy Herzog & de Meuron, from Parrish Art Museum

The placement of the building is a direct result of the skylights facing towards the north. This east-west orientation, and its incidental diagonal relationship within the site, generates dramatically changing perspective views of the building and further emphasises the building’s extreme yet simple proportions. It lays in an extensive meadow of indigenous grasses that refers to the natural landscape of Long Island.

Herzog & de Meuron 2012

photos : Jeff Cully

Parrish Art Museum – Building Information

New Address: Parrish Art Museum, 279 Montauk Highway, Water Mill, NY
Project Description: Reflect the cultural heritage of the East End with an elegant new building that triples the Museum’s exhibition space.
Project Phases: Ground-breaking: Jul 19, 2010 ; Opening: Nov 10, 2012
Design Partners: Herzog & de Meuron – Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron,
Ascan Mergenthaler (Partner in Charge)
Executive Architect: Douglas Moyer Architect PC, Sag Harbor, NY, USA
Landscape Architect: Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture, Watertown, MA, USA

Building Footprint: 34,400 sqft, nearly double the size of the building on Jobs Lane
Site Area: 601,000 sqft
Building Dimensions: Length: 615 ft / Width: 95 ft / Height: 32 ft
Number of Levels: One Level (Service basement and crawl space below)
Galleries: 12,200 sqft (almost triple the space on Jobs Lane)
Collection Galleries: 7,600 sqft
Exhibition Galleries: 4,600 sqft

Works in Collection: 2,600 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper by many of America’s most influential artists
The Lichtenstein Theater: 2,400 sq ft with state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment and seating capacity for 200
Rachel and Jean-Pierre Lehmann Covered Terraces: 13,500 sq ft, along each side of the building
Mildred C. Brinn Terrace: 6,000 sq ft covered terrace for special events, performances, outdoor workshops for adults and children

Images: Matthu Placek

photo Courtesy Herzog & de Meuron, from Parrish Art Museum