Brandeis University
Rose Art Museum, Lois Foster Wing
Respecting the master plan.
The original Master Plan for Brandeis University was developed by Eero Saarinen and featured individual buildings atop the hilly, pastoral setting as temples, rejecting the traditional closed collegiate quadrangle model. The original art museum is a pavilion-like structure designed in the classic International Style. The design of the new addition respects the original building. It reinforces the location and identification of the original museum as a temple, graciously deferring to it with the rear siting of the addition.
A special moment created in the stairway.
The addition is reached through the grand entrance of the old building and then through a glass doorway that opens onto a balcony overlooking the new main gallery below. Descending the grand, glass-enclosed staircase, with views of nature beyond, visitors enter on the ground level. The stairway doubles as exhibition space and at night it glows, illuminating and showcasing its changing art exhibitions and reinforcing the importance of the arts on campus.
Flexible galleries support limitless installations.
The 24-foot, two-story galleries support a flexible range of installations from traditional art forms to multi-media expressions. Daylight flows into the galleries through an acid-etched glass clerestory, lined with adjustable louvers. The louvers can be adjusted to control the amount of daylight in the galleries, from full-light to complete darkness.
Let's aim for
extraordinary
together