The Clark's Latest Expansion Opens

It's been twelve years since the start of construction on Stone Hill Center, the first Tadao Ando-designed building at The Clark, and the first major part of a master plan by Cooper, Robertson & Partners that would add nearly 100,000 square feet to the campus's approximately 180,000 square feet of exhibition and other spaces. In addition to Ando's Visitor Center (Clark Center) and Stone Hill Center, the institution's master plan includes the expansion and renovation of the Museum Building and the renovation of the Manton Research Center (both by Selldorf Architects), the redesign and reconfiguration of the Clark's grounds (Reed Hilderbrand), and additional sitework and work to plant facilities. Executive architect and sustainability consultant for the various projects is Gensler, and spearheading the endeavor is The Clark’s director, Michael Conforti.

The fusion of architecture and landscape – the work of Ando and Hilderbrand – is most evident in the reflecting pools fronting the Clark Center. In their proximity to the glass-and-concrete building, the pools are reminiscent of earlier Ando buildings in the United States, including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Pulitzker Foundation for the Arts in St. Louis. In Ando's own words: "I have always been in awe of the Clark’s unique sense of place in nature. In both the Visitor Center and Stone Hill Center, I have tried to express a deep respect for the landscape outside and an equal reverence for the art inside. It is critical that the art speak for itself and that viewers experience it in their own way."

Ando's building stands in contrast to Daniel Perry's Museum Building, a neoclassical edifice that dates back to only 1955, when The Clark was born. Chronologically between Ando's two additions and Perry's galleries is the Manton Research Center, designed by Pietro Belluschi and The Architects Collaborative in 1973. The four buildings, in concert with the landscape, are described by Boston Globe architecture critic Robert Campbell as "so radically revamped and enlarged that it feels like an entirely new place."