Blurring the lines between arts and architecture, the $35 million revitalization of the Jack S Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, by Snohetta, has redefined the limits of construction. Instead of simply solving the elementary crisis, Snohetta’s Architects redesigned the facility and its landscape with an artistic touch, respecting the context as distinguished alumni. 

From the Huntington Art Gallery to the Jack S Blanton Museum of Art and the Recent Revitalization 

In 1927, Archer M. Huntington donated over 4000 acres of land along Galveston Bay to generate revenue for developing an art museum on the campus, realizing its need. Since the establishment of the College of Fine Arts in 1938 temporary exhibitions were held in various Campus buildings until the construction of a new Art building in 1963 that served as a devoted Art Museum for the campus featuring a decent number of artworks.

However, due to the growing collection of artworks, the Museum’s permanent collection was shifted to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center building while the temporary exhibition galleries and a study room remained in the Arts building. In 1980, the University Art Museum was renamed the Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery. 

Following a decade of excessive acquisition of several artworks including antiquities and European works from the Renaissance and Baroque, modern and contemporary American art, and contemporary Latin American art, and prints and drawings, the existing facility was outgrown. In response, an announcement was made by the University of Texas on 1st February 1997, expressing their willingness to construct an art museum to gather all collections under one roof. 

The new Museum was planned to be named Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art in honor of Jack S. Blanton, BA (Class of 1947), LLB (Class of 1950), a distinguished alumnus, the former Chairman of the UT Board of Regents and longstanding patron of the arts in Texas who donated a hefty sum to the project. Over sixty design firms came up with design proposals and after careful study, Herzog & de Meuron and six other firms were shortlisted.

Subsequently, the firm was selected and invited to present their proposal multiple times. However, ideological differences emerged between the architects and the Board of Regents. The Board wanted the design to align with the Spanish-Mediterranean style of other buildings on campus and adhere to the campus Master Plan guidelines. In contrast, Herzog & de Meuron favored a more distinctive signature design, which ultimately unfortunately led to their resignation.

Despite controversies, rising tension, and struggles, the Blanton Art Museum of Art was designed by the new architecture firm, ‘Kallmann McKinnell & Wood’ commissioned by a committee also including Members from the University’s Board of Regents and was inaugurated in 2006. Leveraging the new facility, the former director Jessie Otto Hite and her team devised fresh programs and exhibitions within its premises. 

The Austin Building, conceptualized by American artist Ellsworth Kelly in 2015 and opened in 2018, has garnered international attention and acclaim. Austin is one of the permanent art/architecture external galleries that the Blanton hosts. The striking feature of this 2,715-square-foot stone building is the colored glass windows on its arched façades in harmony with the surrounding loggias.

In a way, it was Austin that contributed to the revitalization, revealing the humble, hidden building that hosted world-class art collections. Further, driven by significant funds from the Moody Foundation and the enthusiasm of the director Simone Wicha, also an alumnus (class of 96), the Blanton Campus was given a new life, exquisite portals and complementing landscaping, and the City of Austin was given more than just a world-class museum, an artistic, inspiring civic core.

The Director’s Perspective, The Conundrum to Solve, and Vision Ahead

The Blanton Museum of Art was, in its essence, two separate buildings facing each other: one for administration and one for galleries unified by a central courtyard. The conservative design and Spanish-Mediterranean architectural language of the two buildings with arcades ensured that the museum blended well with the campus buildings fading into the background.  Further, the landscape was designed to frame the capitol building, leaving the existing live oak trees. The sidewalks were long, shaded by the trees, and independent. 

Airing her concerns over the homogenous design, low-key accesses, and muted entrance, the director, Wicha, draws attention to one of the major conflicts to be sought during the redesign. Wicha expresses how the visitors and art enthusiasts admired and applauded the excellent collections that Blanton exhibited, temporary exhibitions that popped up, and public programs that were organized but described Blanton as ‘the best-kept secret’. 

Over her tenure, she noticed that people found it frustrating to find the entrance subdued by the covered porch, and archways only resembling the other buildings on the campus. Further bound by three accessways, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Speedway Mall, and Brazos Street, the issue of being camouflaged in the crowd of the university buildings, weakening the visibility of the Museum and its entrance, was only aggravated.  

In the bigger picture, it is clear that the city of Austin, also known as one of the creative cities, lacks a dedicated substantial art museum, like MoMa for New York City and Lacma for Los Angeles City, according to director Wicha. She believes that ‘a good art museum’ is non-negotiable for ‘a great city’. A good art museum is not something that pops up overnight, and it takes years of collaboration.

Iconic Architects and also Loyal Alumni 

Besides their heartfelt involvement with Blanton as alumni, it was their encounter with Simone Wicha in 2016 on the Campus that convinced her that the duo would be perfect for the revitalization project design as they expressed how the artworks inspired them as students even when the Blanton was not conceptualized. 

Architects Craig Edward Dykers and Elaine Molinar, co-founders of Snohetta and also distinguished alumni of the class of 1985 and 1988, recall fond memories of their personal experiences at the University of Texas Art Museum. While Dykers describes his weekly encounters with the collections in the Humanities Research Center as powerful, Molinar recalls the artworks as phenomenal and essential for students to understand the artist’s alternate perspective on life through their artworks. 

The Conceptual Approach and Inspirations

Besides addressing the conundrums identified in the earlier phase, the conceptual approach was a direct statement indicating the heartfelt involvement of the distinguished alumni architects in the project. At its core, it was enough to just add signages defining the entrance. But the architects and director came up with something more artistic announcing the presence of a world-class museum on the campus.

The unique perspective that Craig Dykers, the commissioned architect, holds on art clarifies this matter further. He explains that it was high time that people changed their perception that art has to be locked inside buildings, and protected. According to him, art is something that evolves with the community, starts young, grows old, and is alive, which deserves to be part of a place, not merely galleries. The outdoor art installations and the petal-like structuring soaring high are an outcome of this concept.

As a class of 1980, alumnus Craig describes how the fairly conservative university campus rendered in a Beaux-Arts style gradually evolved to incorporate landscape barriers and exposed-aggregate pavers, responding to the student protests and tensions that the university faced. Throughout the redesign project, the architect ensured a balance of past and future, greenery and pavers, and structure and site. Owing to this, the architect thoughtfully executed the concept without ignoring the existing architecture but also paving the way to the future by incorporating a modern interpretation of the loggia arches in the redesign.

The Revitalization Project, Redesign and Additions

The revitalization project features the addition of signage, an emphasized entrance to the ticketing counter and galleries, enhanced pathways, a patio with stages for performance, signature petal-like tall structures, new art installations, and reshaped landscaping.

The Blanton Museum of Art Campus, located at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard and Speedway Mall, is bound by Speedway Mall on the North, Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard on the South overlooking the Capitol Mall, and Barzos Street on the East overlooking the Barzos Garage. On the far north of the campus, the Austin design is located, and on the south, tall petal-like structures designed by Snohetta are located.

For passersby on Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard, the artistic petal-like structures announce the presence of the Blanton, and an elevated podium also incorporating the live oak trees, Snohetta’s petal-like structures, lush green native flora, the moody patio with two stages marks the entrance from the boulevard.

From the Brazos Garage right across Brazos Street, the architects have created a 500-foot-long pathway that rises and dips, widens and narrows, respecting the context, leaving the underground utilities and the roots of the oak trees undisturbed that lead to the galleries. Further, an artwork by artist Kay Rosen featuring alphabets “ABCDEFGHI” in sequence, with the “H” and “I” in neon yellow drawing attention, was mounted on the building facing the Barzos garage and street, guiding the to-be visitors. In addition, a drop-off zone was also integrated into this new entrance zone, facilitating the annual visit of over 12,000 schoolchildren to the museum.

The north entrance provides a unique experience out of the other two entrances with its innovative outdoor Butler Sound Gallery. The sound artist Bill Fontana recorded the sounds of bats from under the Congress Avenue Bridge, local birds in the Texas Hills, and babbling water in Barton Springs that resonate throughout the north entrance during museum hours.

As well as carefully planning the entrances, the architects redesigned the administration and gallery buildings and enriched them with vibrant colors, abstract elements, and art installations both in the interiors and exteriors.

All the entrances culminate at the moody patio, stretching from the Austin to Snohetta’s petal-like structures framing the Texas state capitol when viewed from the patio and framing the Austin when viewed from the Boulevard. These petal-like structures, originally conceived inspired by the loggias and vaults of the campus buildings, complete and unify the two distinct buildings by creating illusionary archways when viewed from the boulevard. 

These petals with perforated heads are 30 feet in diameter and 39 feet high fiberglass structures. However, they were crafted to be light and not require heavy footing to omit intervening with the underground roots of the oaks and other concealed utilities. The architects studied the shadow patterns of the petals with full-scale models before allocating spaces for seating and native vegetation. The perforation allows for irrigation of the flora below ranging from the spiky-leafed dwarf palmetto to the green grassy bursts of Cherokee sedge.

When viewed from the patio, the main gallery building is adorned with the “Verde que te quiero verde” (Green How I Desire You Green) art installation by Latin American artist Carmen Herreras, emphasizing the entrance of the gallery building. The Director was instrumental in roping the Latin American artist in the project as she felt that this artwork on the exterior would echo the Latin American Artworks inside the gallery. 

Further, a yellow flipped arch-like window in the staircase landing of the gallery building overlooking the patio and café lies in harmony with the yellow archway highlighting the ticketing building entry. Plexus No. 44, is an installation with multi-colored threads by Gabriel Dawe resembling a rainbow livening the atrium of the administration building.

Blanton Art Museum; An Artistic Communal Asset to Austin

Aligning with the director’s vision the intervention has transformed Blanton from a concealed facility into a place that nurtures both the arts and the city and its community. Snohetta’s Architects redesigned the existing courtyard between the gallery building and administration building into a landscaped plaza with stages for performances, seating areas, and artistic tall petal-like structures drawing attention, soothing and inspiring the visitors and passers-by turning it into a civic core. Rather than just addressing the issue of obscure entrances, the intervention by Snohetta has brought Austin one step closer to achieving the director’s vision of ‘a good art museum for a great city!’.