Center for Curatorial Studies

How Small Changes Have Big Impacts

Text by Matthias Hollwich

The CCS Bard Museum has been transformed from a standard museum, with gallery after gallery after gallery, into a museum of the future that makes the world of curation part of the experience. This design liberates Curatorial Studies from the basement and creates visible storage spaces where visitors, scholars, teachers, and students can dive into the secrets behind cultural artifacts.

The renovation is entirely within the original building’s footprint—the renovation is more like surgery than architecture. New windows and skylights are cut into the existing shell. Walls are removed to double the size of the library. Amongst all of these nips and tucks the work of two artists, one living and one dead, created permanent installations: Liam Gillick and Sol LeWitt.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Status  COMPLETED 2015

Location  ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY

Client  CENTER FOR CURATORIAL STUDIES, BARD COLLEGE

Size  22,000 SF

Scope  CONCEPT-CA

Team  MATTHIAS HOLLWICH, BRAD ENGELSMAN, ROBERT MAY, GREG PIETRYCHIA, ANDREW MCBRIDE, NATHAN WANG, ADAM HOSTETLER, FAN ZHANG, JT KEELY, AMANDA AZZAHRA