The Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, is set to reopen on September 10, 2024, after an extensive restoration and expansion led by Snøhetta in collaboration with Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture (APMA). This transformation introduces the new 42,000-square-foot Rhonda & Howard Hawks Pavilion, designed to significantly enhance Nebraska's largest art museum by adding new gallery spaces and reimagining the visitor experience.
Snøhetta's design for the Hawks Pavilion extends the existing museum structure with a curved volume emerging from a glass atrium. This atrium connects the new pavilion with both the historic 1931 Art Deco Memorial building and the 1994 addition, the Walter & Suzanne Scott Pavilion, by Norman Foster. The pavilion is elevated on two granite garden walls, using transparency to provide a more inviting arrival experience that enhances connectivity throughout the museum. The atrium's first floor boasts the museum shop and a multifunctional community space, designed to foster a dynamic and engaging environment for visitors.
The reopening will also feature a fully reinstalled collection, showcasing recent acquisitions, the restored Art Deco building, and newly designed public gardens. These efforts have expanded the museum's gallery space by over 40% and introduced an elevated entry garden featuring Mark di Suvero's Bodacious (2001), aligning with broader revitalization efforts in downtown Omaha.
Honoring The Joslyn’s historic character while creating a fresh expression for the Museum’s future has guided our design. Our comprehensive reconsideration of the Museum grounds, the existing interiors, and the newest building all work together to create a more inviting entry for the growing spectrum of people that visit the Museum. Our goal has been to provide a harmonious place for guests, art, and gathering that will become a vessel for inspiration and creativity to flourish. —Craig Dykers, Founding Partner of Snøhetta
The new Hawks Pavilion façade features a horizontal texture inspired by the stacked stone of the 1931 Joslyn Building’s Grand Steps, with light-colored precast panels embedded with pink aggregate to echo the Etowah Fleuri (Georgia Pink) marble of the existing buildings. This design aims to harmonize with the surrounding landscape, where a raised sculpture garden, envisioned as a series of outdoor 'rooms,' wraps around the site. The pavilion further enhances the visitor experience by offering expansive views of these outdoor spaces from the gathering areas throughout the building.
The Hawks Pavilion will also host the inaugural display of the Phillip G. Schrager Collection, featuring 52 significant postwar and contemporary artworks, alongside new exhibitions and installations that further enrich the museum's offerings. The Joslyn's outdoor sculpture gardens, redesigned by Snøhetta's landscape architecture team, feature native plantings and newly commissioned sculptures, providing a new context for the museum's art and architecture.
In other similar news, Caruso St John Architects has been appointed to renovate the iconic Kusthalle Bielefeld designed by Philip Johnson in 1968. Similarly, David Kohn Architects has recently won the international competition for the redesign of SMAK, the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art in Ghent, Belgium. Finally, Powerhouse, Australia’s largest museum institution dedicated to applied arts design, and technology, has revealed the plans for a comprehensive restoration of its three sites located in Sydney, Australia led by a team of architects, Durbach Block Jaggers working in partnership with Architectus, Youssofzay + Hart, and landscape architects, Tyrell Studio.
