first look at the completed aspen art museum by shigeru ban

first look at the completed aspen art museum by shigeru ban
photo © david x prutting/bfanyc.com

with a quickly approaching public opening of august 9, 2014, images have been revealed of the completed aspen art museum, designed by pritzker prize-winning shigeru ban. the organization is currently among a series of events to commemorate the moment, including a recent gala, ribbon cutting ceremony, and walk-through with the renowned architect.

the building serves as a 33,000 square foot extension to the institution’s facilities, and is located in the center of the ski-city’s downtown. to celebrate the added display space, six different inaugural exhibitions are being held, which showcase a range of contemporary art. these include david hammons yves klein/yves klein david hammons; tomma abts: mainly drawings; rosemarie trockel; jim hodges’s with liberty and justice for all (a work in progress); cai guo-qiang’s black lightning and moving ghost town; and a display highlighting the architect’s work, shigeru ban: humanitarian architecture.

a woven-wood screen wraps the building on its street facing elevations
photo © david x prutting/bfanyc.com

located on a corner lot in downtown aspen, the new museum facility is distinguished by its outer screen made of woven wood strips, which functions to shade the glass walls. the building is comprised of 17,500 square feet of galleries, serving to triple the amount of exhibition space for the institution. the galleries are complemented by a rooftop sculpture garden, featuring sliding glass doors that allow for an open indoor outdoor space, with views of the adjacent skiing mountain, ajax. the structure’s opening occurs on the organization’s 35th year of operation, and offers year-round free admission to guests.

for more info on the project during its design phase, check out a previous designboom article here.

a wide exterior stair is located between the building’s outer screen and glass enclosure
photo © david x prutting/bfanyc.com

to describe the museum’s design, architect shigeru ban states, ‘in designing the aspen art museum, i wanted to create a site-specific sequence that took into account the mountain views and the building’s purpose as an art museum, and to open the building to the outside so visitors could appreciate the beauty of aspen from inside the building. i made the entrance foyer on the rooftop. it is like the experience of skiing—you go up to the top of a mountain, enjoy the view, and then slide down. i also achieved this sequence by opening the museum to the beauty of nature with five important design features: the grand stair, the moving glass room elevator, the woven wood screen, the wood roof structure (wood truss system), and the walkable skylights.’

check out images of a scale model made for the project here.