NEW YORK, June 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard) has announced New York Architecture firm HWKN have been appointed to lead a major expansion of its campus facilities.
Known as one of the worlds most forward thinking teaching and learning environments for the research and practice of contemporary art and curatorship, Bard College is also recognized for its continual commissioning of influential architects with HWKN joining the likes of Frank Gehry and Rafael Vinoly who have contributed to the upstate New York college.
"CCS Bard houses one of the most impressive contemporary art collections in the world therefore our approach was to ensure the collection was both extremely accessible and at the core of the visitor experience." said Matthias Hollwich, Principal of HWKN. "With the college faculty and artist Liam Gillick we have found new ways for visitors to engage with art even when it may not be formally on display."
Fueled by a deliberate re-envisioning of the role architecture plays within art oriented spaces, HWKN have collaborated with British conceptual artist Liam Gillick for one portion of the expansion - a visible collection archive featuring slatted walls that allow visitors a peek at a colorful wall drawing by Sol LeWitt - while showing deliberate architectural restraint in others portions of the expansion, affording the diverse body of contemporary art from the Marieluise Hessel Collection to take center stage.
Additionally, the expansion also doubles the existing teaching spaces and includes the design of a new light filled library which will grow from 30,000 to 60,000 volumes to become one of the pre-eminent libraries of contemporary art in America.
"HWKN has brought enthusiasm and design intelligence to CCS Bard's facilities expansion" said Executive Director Tom Eccles. "They understand the unique challenges posed with both educational and fine art oriented spaces and have created some beautiful solutions in collaboration with Liam Gillick which we think will result in a valuable experience for our students, staff and patrons."
The Hessel Museum of Art and CCS Bard Library and Archives will reopen this Fall.
ABOUT HWKN:
HWKN \Haw-kin\ is a diverse architecture studio in Lower Manhattan designing cultural and private developments.
A collection of design, construction and communication specialists led by two globally recognized architects and tech entrepreneurs – HWKN is a new kind of architecture firm.
We're motivated to create architecture rich in individual personality, local context and highly social experiences because our mission is to facilitate those unique emotional bonds that form between people and their built environment.
Each HWKN project is an opportunity to inspire and provide future social, cultural and economic value for our clients and the communities they join.
Recent designs include Journal Squared; New Jersey's largest residential tower, the UPenn Pennovation Center, the Fire Island Pines Pavilion and the winning entry at the MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program, called Wendy.
ABOUT CCS BARD:
The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard) was founded in 1990 as an exhibition and research center for the study of late twentieth-century and contemporary art and culture and to explore experimental approaches to the presentation of these topics and their impact on our world. Since 1994, the Center for Curatorial Studies and its graduate program have provided one of the world's most forward thinking teaching and learning environments for the research and practice of contemporary art and curatorship.
Broadly interdisciplinary, CCS Bard encourages students, faculty and researchers to question the critical and political dimension of art, its mediation and its social significance. CCS Bard cultivates innovative thinking, radical research and new ways to challenge our understanding of the social and civic values of the visual arts. CCS Bard provides an intensive educational program alongside its public events, exhibitions, and publications, which collectively explore the critical potential of the institutions and practices of exhibition-making. It is uniquely positioned within the larger Center's tripartite resources, which include the internationally renowned CCS Bard Library and Archives and the Hessel Museum of Art, with its rich permanent collection.
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SOURCE HWKN
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