Project name: The Center for Asian Art in the Dr. Helga Wall-Apelt Gallery of Asian Art at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
Project location: Sarasota, Florida
Firm name: Machado and Silvetti Associates with Sweet Sparkman Architects
Jury comments: Museum design is an opportunity to create dramatic public spaces, and this project—a renovation and new addition to an existing campus–rises to the challenge. Sublimely articulated, it is as much a sculptural object as it is a remarkable building that is highly responsive to its environment. The addition could have been a glass box reflecting nearby palm trees, but instead, the beautifully crafted pavilion skin is an extraordinary overlay of terra cotta panels. In a highly appropriate response to its tropical site, visitors enter under a cooling canopy that is folded to match the saw tooth of the rotated façade panels. Inside and out, color is used successfully as an architectural element. There is texture to the exterior green, which mimics the tropical context, and use of red throughout the interior is powerful yet judicious. Generally, the interior is less successful than the form. Is the building lacking at a human scale, even as it challenges notions about heirarchy?
Client: Florida State University on behalf of the Ringling Museum of Art
Consultants: Willis Smith Construction; Sweet Sparkman Architects; AM Engineering, Inc.; Universal Engineering Sciences; Stirling and Wilbur Engineering Group; TLC Engineering for Architecture; DWY Landscape Architects; LAM Partners Inc.; Kalin Associates, Inc.; RJA Associates; Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc.;
