Clark Art Launches $145M Expansion Project
  Museum officials and architects announced the start of the three-year project on Tuesday. Architect Tadao Ando, far right, who also designed the Clark's Stone Hill Center, said the new center will be 'a good experience.' Take a virtual tour below. |
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute announced a $145 million renovation and expansion of the museum's campus that includes a new visitors, exhibition and conference center. The project is expected to not only enhance the county's creative and tourism economy in the long-term but also employ local workers for the construction for the next three years.
"There are 500 jobs for the Berkshires over the course of the next three years in just the building of the project and the analysis of it, as I've been told even though the study is not complete yet, that the project — not the Clark itself but the enhancement of the Clark — is going to have a $9 million annual impact on the economy of the Berkshires," Michael Conforti, museum director, said on Tuesday. "It's a very, very positive message in terms of what we will be doing for the economy, not only the ongoing cultural tourism and contributing even more significantly in our role of attracting tourist from near and far but also just being able to employ people in this county."
The project is the final phase of an ambitious expansion plan conceived a decade ago. The first phase was the construction of the $20 million Stone Hill Center; prepping for the current project began more than a year ago. The details of the project can be found here.
The museum will close the galleries on Nov. 13 to prepare for the reconstruction that is expected to be complete in June 2014. For those three years, the museum will ship some of its most beloved works to other museums throughout the world in cultural exchanges, which is expected to give the Clark access to precious work from other museums in the future.
"I think the Berkshires has to appreciate that in order to get special access to other kinds of collections like the Prado and in order to promote what we have here, this kind of sacrifice is necessary," Conforti said.
However, the museum is not planning on closing its doors. While some of those works are on the road, the Clark Art will be featuring special exhibitions and highlight some of its collection that may have been overlooked in its current research area. On Nov. 13, the museum will be debuting a "Rembrandt and Degas: Two Young Artists" — a show that museum officials said has received high praise at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
"The traveling exhibition consists of 73 painting and, yes, they are some of the most beloved paintings of impressionism in academic art but we have 423 paintings remaining, as well as hundreds of works of decorative art and sculpture and 5,000 works on paper," curator Richard Rand said. "This gives us an opportunity to work with parts of the collection that are not always highlighted."
 Director Michael Conforti said the expansion project alone will create 500 jobs and pump $9 million a year into the county's economy. |
The center was designed by famed architect Tadao Ando, who also designed the Stone Hill Center.
"The experience of the Clark is just inside the building," Ando, of Osaka, Japan, said through a translator. "It will become a place that can provide a good experience for people."
In the end, Ando, who is known for integrating nature into his designs, believes the Clark Art will become the "most unique museum experience" in the world. In addition to the reflecting pool, another 2 miles of hiking trails and new landscaping will enhance the museum's 140 acres. Landscape architect Gary Hilderbrand said the plans were designed to capitalize on the scenic beauty of the region.
"You live in an incredible region," Hilderbrand said. "It's not secret that the Clark is a piece of property that the entire community takes pride in."
While the exterior will see extensive changes, the current galleries will only lightly be touched, said architect Annabelle Selldorf. The project will renovate the lighting, climate control systems and surfaces.
"Our mandate was to refurbish it and to not change anything," Selldorf said in a jocular manner.
The galleries will look and feel almost the same except "younger," she said. The research center will also be expanded and some rooms in the museum that are not currently used for exhibitions will be used.
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