ART PRESERVE
Provided: Site Planning + Full-Service Architecture + Interior Design + Exhibition Design
Location: Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Completed: Fall 2019 (opening Summer 2021)
The Art Preserve will open to the public June 26th, 2021. The Art Preserve’s 56,000-square-foot, three-level building will provide exhibition space, visible storage, and preservation of more than 25,000 works of art by over 30 artists in the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s world-renowned collection of artist-built environments. Artist-built environments are an art form created by people who often transform their homes and yards into multifaceted works of art.
The Art Preserve is located within the natural setting of a 160 acre nature preserve on Sheboygan’s west side. The design embraces the collection’s connection to nature while balancing the need to preserve the work.
The building is constructed out of materials that are humble, connected to the artists, and prevalent on the site; rocks, sticks, and earth. The building is a concrete structure comprised primarily of regional river rock, providing the space with a large thermal mass to balance interior temperatures. The building’s asymmetric shape meanders up the hillside and connects the lower entry meadow to the upper secret meadow by bridging the wooded hillside.
This “bridging” of lower and upper meadow results in a building that is partially embedded in the earth. This move assists in maintaining a constant temperature for the space, a factor that will aid in moderating the heating and cooling load of the building. Embedding the building in the hillside also assists in creating a different feel for each of the floors as the visitor makes their way up and down the structure. Level 1 manages to feel very much of the earth with its heavy river rock walls. Level 3 opens to the sky, has views out to the tree canopies beyond, and allows access to the upper meadows of the site.
To access the main entry at level 1, the visitor moves through a forest of soaring timbers. These timbers serve three purposes: they assist with solar shading of the museum’s largest southern windows, they echo the hillside trees in rhythm and stance, and they create a procession through the “woods” into the museum.
The exhibition spaces will present the artists’ work in a variety of ways. The goal is to be true to the artists and show as much of the collection as possible. Each floor will have a mix of traditional tableau presentation as well as dense visible display.
The Art Preserve will be a center for academic study and research, and will include an education area, library, study collection, and other spaces that will provide access to the collection for researchers, tour groups, and the public.
See more about the Art Preserve here.
Location: Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Completed: Fall 2019 (opening Summer 2021)
The Art Preserve will open to the public June 26th, 2021. The Art Preserve’s 56,000-square-foot, three-level building will provide exhibition space, visible storage, and preservation of more than 25,000 works of art by over 30 artists in the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s world-renowned collection of artist-built environments. Artist-built environments are an art form created by people who often transform their homes and yards into multifaceted works of art.
The Art Preserve is located within the natural setting of a 160 acre nature preserve on Sheboygan’s west side. The design embraces the collection’s connection to nature while balancing the need to preserve the work.
The building is constructed out of materials that are humble, connected to the artists, and prevalent on the site; rocks, sticks, and earth. The building is a concrete structure comprised primarily of regional river rock, providing the space with a large thermal mass to balance interior temperatures. The building’s asymmetric shape meanders up the hillside and connects the lower entry meadow to the upper secret meadow by bridging the wooded hillside.
This “bridging” of lower and upper meadow results in a building that is partially embedded in the earth. This move assists in maintaining a constant temperature for the space, a factor that will aid in moderating the heating and cooling load of the building. Embedding the building in the hillside also assists in creating a different feel for each of the floors as the visitor makes their way up and down the structure. Level 1 manages to feel very much of the earth with its heavy river rock walls. Level 3 opens to the sky, has views out to the tree canopies beyond, and allows access to the upper meadows of the site.
To access the main entry at level 1, the visitor moves through a forest of soaring timbers. These timbers serve three purposes: they assist with solar shading of the museum’s largest southern windows, they echo the hillside trees in rhythm and stance, and they create a procession through the “woods” into the museum.
The exhibition spaces will present the artists’ work in a variety of ways. The goal is to be true to the artists and show as much of the collection as possible. Each floor will have a mix of traditional tableau presentation as well as dense visible display.
The Art Preserve will be a center for academic study and research, and will include an education area, library, study collection, and other spaces that will provide access to the collection for researchers, tour groups, and the public.
See more about the Art Preserve here.
