A view of Herzog & de Meuron’s design for the Miami Art Museum, scheduled to open in 2011. (photo: Herzog & De Meuron)

Museums planning a new building typically present the design as a done deal, with every detail resolved and the architects ready to break ground. But the Miami Art Museum decided to do it differently. In unveiling a design today by the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, the museum plans to portray the concept as an interim stage in the development of its $220 million project overlooking Biscayne Bay.

The architects and Terence Riley, the museum’s director, say they want to include the public in the project. To underscore this point, the museum will put the design on view tomorrow at its current site nearby, in an exhibition which will also include about 20 models showing how the design has evolved. “A lot of museum directors are terrified about this,” Mr. Riley said of the open discussion. “Because they don’t understand the process, they try to keep everything secret.” And, referring to the exhibition, he added “It makes you realize that nothing is a fait accompli,” Mr. Riley said. “Nothing arrives out of the head of the architect like Athena out of Zeus’ head. Architecture doesn’t just come out that way.”

The museum will overlook Biscayne Bay and feature a wide canopy designed to connect with the tropical surroundings of a park. (photo: Herzog & De Meuron)

Go to website Miami Art Museum
Read article (New York Times, November 30, 2007)