Despite the ever changing ownership of Fan Pier, The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) launched construction of its new museum with a groundbreaking ceremony today at Fan Pier in downtown Boston. Projected to open in 2006, the ICA is the first art museum to be built in Boston in almost 100 years and hopes to become the cultural centerpiece of the waterfront and one of the city’s most recognized architectural landmarks.
Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro the waterfront location will create a dynamic state-of-the-art center for performances and educational activities, as well as a contemplative exhibition space for contemporary art. Major design elements of the new 65,000-square-foot museum include flexible galleries that triple the ICA’s current exhibition space, a 325-seat performing arts theater with glass walls that face Boston Harbor, and high-tech education and digital media facilities. The cantilevered design for the museum integrates the city's public Harborwalk into the building and produces shifting views of the waterfront throughout the galleries, theater and public spaces. Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio were recipients of the MacArthur Foundation Award in 1999, the first ever given in the field of architecture. Installations by Diller Scofidio +Renfro have been commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Walker Art Center Minneapolis, the Cartier Foundation, the Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels, and Gallery Ma Tokyo. D+S works are in the permanent collection of MoMA, SFMoMA, the Musee de la Mode in Paris, and many private collections.
"The city of Boston will be physically and culturally transformed by the ICA at Fan Pier. The new museum will bring innovative ideas and fresh insights to the burgeoning Seaport District, an area of exciting opportunities," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. "Boston has long been the cultural capital of New England, and inspiring projects such as the ICA symbolizes the new Boston of the 21st century."
The new waterfront building will accommodate the ICA's unprecedented growth over the past five years, including an increase in attendance of more than 50%. The facility will enable the ICA to present more ambitious exhibitions, utilizing flexible gallery spaces, new technologies and educational initiatives.
The ICA also announced it has raised 55 percent of the $62-million needed to fund the new building through contributions and the future sale of the current building on Boylston Street. In addition, the ICA has received nine gifts of $1 million or more, including an anonymous gift of $3 million and $1.5 million from Bank of America to name the first floor of the new two-story education center.
"The groundbreaking represents a significant step toward the transformation of the ICA," said Vin Cipolla, Chairman of the ICA Board of Trustees. "The new ICA will galvanize arts and culture in the city of Boston, providing a major economic boost to the new waterfront by attracting residents and tourists to the city for many years to come."
The facade of the four-story museum will consist of identically sized vertical planks that alternate in composition between transparent and translucent glass and opaque metal. The top floor of the museum will be illuminated at night to become a radiant waterfront presence.
The galleries, located on the uppermost floor and totaling 17,000 square feet, will cantilever over the harbor walk, providing a sheltered open space at ground level where visitors can gather and enjoy views of Boston Harbor. The flexible, column-free galleries will feature moveable walls, polished concrete floors, and ceilings that are nearly 16 feet high, as well as an expansive adjustable skylight system that will allow natural light to be evenly filtered throughout the space. In the Long Gallery, a lenticular glass wall will face the harbor and span the entire width of the exhibition space. Composed of microscopic vertical lenses, the glass will permit outdoor views when viewed from a perpendicular direction, but will block vision when viewed from an angle.
A 5,200-square foot performing arts theater on the second and third floors will feature walls glazed in clear glass, allowing the harbor views to become the backdrop behind the 51-foot stage. The theater’s glass walls can also be controlled to meet performance needs—from full transparency to filtered light and no view to total blackout.
The ICA was chosen in November 1999 by the mayoral-appointed Boston 2000 Commission to build a new museum on Parcel J of the Fan Pier development, which was designated for civic use. Founded in 1936, the ICA is one of the oldest museums devoted exclusively to the presentation of contemporary art.
Ground breaking ceremony for the new ICA at Fan Pier Photo by John Kennard
The Boston Harbor Journal