Sarah Scaife Gallery

For those of you wanting to relate your projects to the Carnegie Museum of Art, here is some background information about the Sarah Scaife Gallery, obtained from my research for Post Modern Architecture:

Architect: Edward Larrabee Barnes

Year of Commission:  A.D. 1971

Galleries: 12 @ 155,000 square feet combined

Period:  Post Modern Architecture

Info:

For the architect to not rival his building to the artwork but to be considerate of the art was a large factor in this era. Architects considered Site Context, Materiality, Circulation, Illumination, and lastly, Adaptibility when proposing designs for museums.  One of the most famous architects in Post Modernism was Barnes, himself.  He made a career out of designing such structures through the United States.  The idea was to create architecture that housed art but did not rival it.  It was an architecture that merely worked well, from simple white walls (in the beginning), illumination from reflected and diffused sunlight, and (interestingly) a serpentine path through the galleries that ensured a Western perception of time to be maintained by keeping circulation linear from the past to the present.  That last feature, sadly, was destroyed when rennovations in the eighties punched openings through the galleries so as to give freedom to visitors rather than dictate their footsteps.  But the adaptability of the design to accommodate this change meant that the galleries were still viable.

Respect for the context of the site stems form the fact that it is an extension of the museum and acts as such.  It makes no attempt to dominate the main structure, built in A.D. 1903, but rather assists as a secondary means of entrance, hosts various functions, and latches onto the museum by two circulation routes.  Despite its looming appearance, (it was darkened to match the dirty exterior of the original structure), the design is rather simple in materiality, just using Glass, Granite, and Steel.

But the problem is that because it does it job so well, that there is no controversy or extravagance to keep giving it attention.   That is why it can be difficult to gather recent information on the Scaife Galleries.  Periodicals and magazines covered the grand opening of the galleries, even leading to an actual book on the matter but then the attention fades away, leaving only old drawings and articles to thoroughly understand this building.   Sometimes though, buildings like this do not need that clamor.  There is a validity to not going beyond merely what is needed but to do the best that can be for that need.  And given the best minds in this era were less concerned with praise, their architecture reflected this.  It was not a lack of effort on their part.  It was their best attempt to satisfy a museum in need of an extension.   -Michael P. Lynes

Plans

Exterior

Traverse Opening that altered the original serpentine intention for circulation

Lobby Interior, looking to corner of Forbes Avenue

Sources to Consider:

Barnes, John. Edward Larrabee Barnes: Museum Designs . New York: The Kotonah Gallery, 1987.

“Barnes gratia artis.”  Progressive architecture 56 (Mar. 1975) 26-27

Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Celebration.  Pittsburgh:  Geyer Print. Co.  1974

Lemos, Peter.  Barnes’s Basic Art Barn.  Progressive Architecture

Lowry, Patricia.  “Scaife Gallery to get outdoor Steel sculpture”  The Pittsburgh Press.  July 29th, 1985.

Lubell, Sam.  Architect Edward Larrabee Barnes Dies.  Architectural Record.  http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/040923barnes.asp (accessed 22 April, 2010).

“Museum, Architect to sign Pact.” Pittsburgh Post Gazette. May 30th, 1970.  2nd Edtion

Rolland, Peter G.  Potsdam Press Release.  MOMA Press Release Archives.  7 April 1971.  http://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives (accessed 22 April 2010)

“Sarah Scaife Gallery, Museum of Art”  Carnegie magazine 48, no. 8-9 (Oct.-Nov. 1974) whole issue

“The Scaife Gallery…let there be light…”  Architectural record 158, no. 7 (Nov. 1975) 87-92

“The Sarah M. Scaife Gallery”  Carnegie magazine 46, no. 1 (Jan. 1972) 5-14

Wilson, Ellis.  “Beyond Convention: The Scaife Galleries’ New Look Transcends Old Expectations”  Carnegie Online (Nov. 2003)

http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmag/bk_issue/2003/novdec/feature1.html (accessed 31 January 2010)

Wilson, Ellis.  “The Continuing History of the Scaife Galleries.” Carnegie Online (Jul. 2003) http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmag/bk_issue/2003/julaug/feature1.html (accessed 18 April 2010)

Heinz Architectural Center Archives:

Barnes, Edward Larabee.  American, 1915-2004.  Alternate Design for Carnegie Museum of Art (originally known as Sarah Scaife Gallery).  Wood and acrylic.  Photo courtesy of Heinz Architectural Center. 1971.

Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Sarah Scaife Gallery, October 1974. Pittsburgh:  Geyer Print. Co.,   1974, 1-19

~ by cmu2014 on October 20, 2010.