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Foreign Office Architects to Design New Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland

by Sheila Kim | Monday, August 2, 2010 | 3 Comments

Unveiled this month, the new design for Cleveland’s Museum of Contemporary Art by Foreign Office Architects (FOA) will be the first major building in the U.S. for the internationally-acclaimed London-based firm. It will be a first for MOCA, too, as for the first time in its some-40-year history, the museum will have a street presence.

FOA’s design for the 34,000-square-foot facility is a direct response to the site’s triangular shape: the plan features a complementary geometric volume that starts with a hexagonal base and seemingly shifts as the building rises four stories to create six facets. Mirror-finish black stainless steel, which changes appearance according to light and weather conditions, will clad the exterior; in the evenings, interior lights will create a dynamic pattern against the dark facade. Three of the building’s facets will flank the main entrance, as well as a public plaza that will set the stage for MOCA’s seasonal programming.

“Museums today are not just homes for art, but serve multiple functions and host a variety of activities,” says FOA principal Farshid Moussavi. “Our design for MOCA Cleveland aims to provide visitors with a museum that is a dynamic public space in which to experience contemporary art in its infinite manifestations.”

Inside, visitors will encounter an atrium lobby, cafe, museum shop, and a double-height multipurpose space for public programs. A monumental staircase will lead to the administrative offices, lecture rooms, operations spaces, and galleries, the latter of which will feature movable walls as the museum is a non-collecting institution.

“Flexibility is key to a program that, like ours, embraces aesthetic, conceptual, and cultural diversity, and displays works in a great variety of mediums and genres,” states MOCA director Jill Snyder.

Scheduled to break ground this fall/winter season, the project will be 40-percent larger than the current leased facility, and is part of a major urban revitalization initiative in Cleveland’s Uptown district. The design team, who worked with executive and local architect Westlake Reed Leskosky, hopes MOCA will attain a LEED silver rating upon completion.