MFAH's $450M Expansion

John Hill
13. January 2015
View of the campus from the Glassell School of Art's rooftop garden (Image: Steven Holl Architects)

The MFAH, established 115 years ago, is home to notable buildings by Mies van der Rohe (1958) and Rafael Moneo (2000) and a sculpture garden by Isamu Noguchi (1986). To them will be added three buildings with galleries, a school of art, and a conservation center.

Holl is designing two of the buildings, both north of Mies's fan-shaped Cullinan Hall. Largest is the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building (named for the couple donating $50 million), a three-story, trapezoidal-shaped building that will house galleries in its 164,000 square feet. Further north is a new three-story home for the Glassell School of Art, whose current building designed by S. I. Morris (known for the Astrodome) will be demolished in the process. Parking will be located underground and tunnels will connect these two buildings to each other and to the existing campus.

Lake|Flato's contribution is the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation Conservation Center that will be located to the east, across the street from Moneo's Audrey Jones Beck Building. The two-story building will sit atop an existing parking garage.

Site plan. Image: MFAH
View of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building, designed by Steven Holl Architects.
View of the Glassell School of Art and the Brown Foundation, Inc. Plaza, designed by Steven Holl Architects.
Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation Center for Conservation, designed by Lake|Flato Architects.

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