This is a progress report, more than anything, but I'm sooo excited about this project! It's about time MOCA got its own home!

 

 

Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland architectural design ready, but still under wraps

Posted by Steven Litt

August 01, 2007 12:58PM

 

The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland has come up with a design for an iconic new building at one of the most prominent intersections in the city.

 

But the world can't see it just yet. The museum wants to complete a two-month feasibility study on how much money it can raise for construction before unveiling the project, MOCA Director Jill Snyder said Tuesday.

 

"We have seen institutions get into trouble by releasing concept designs before they have determined funding capacity and it's never a good thing to backtrack," Snyder said. "We have an internal degree of confidence, but we need to test this further through our feasibility study."..

 

More at: http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1144139562213060.xml&coll=2&thispage=1

Some interesting news but the whole "we are not going to release the design until we complete our feasibility study"  seems a bit like a cop out.  The design process has taken at least a year.  I would imagine that they had at least a ballpark as to home much this was going to cost.  Why weren't they conducting this feasibility study during this past year to see how much $$ it can raise ?  Can the "feasibility study" actually be "how can we pick Peter Lewis' pocket now that we have a design and how do we approach him".

I think the selection of FOA is excellent, first in the United States and first museum, we will be getting some original work here they will not want to blow their first attempt in the states.  Im thrilled, I was saddened by the weak and overly refined appearance of the CMA exspansion, not to say it does not represent a great stride forward in itself. 

The design process hasn't taken over a year.  They have been designing since december.  Would you want something less thought out like most of the crap produced by some other firms who will remain unnamed?  Trust me, they are working on this project.  I've seen Farshid Moussavi in town a couple times over the last couple months.

Yeah .. I'm so pumped about this project. I think it's about friggin time MOCA got a proper home. It's an amazing museum; the only weak point about it is that it's so small and its current visibility is nil. I can't wait for their expansion/construction. I'm only hoping that they will have some space for a permanent collection in their new building. Anyone know anything about this?

 

Regardless, we can probably expect something daring and exciting from FOA on this .. a true landmark building.

W28th you apparently misunderstood my post.  I was not criticizing the design process or the length of time it has taken.  My question related to the museum's suggestion that they do not want to reveal what is apparently an almost completed design (according to Litt) for two months or more just because they want to do a feasibility study in connection with whether the $$ to build the place can be raised.  Again my question was why wasn't this being done during the course of the design work.  My point being is that this just seems to be a lame or false excuse to me to hold back on the release.  It just sounds funny to me.  Moreover, if it actually the case I have to question those running the show as, again, they should have been on this major aspect of the museum's planning months ago.

 

Now the conspiracy theorist in me (pure speculation on my part but lots of fun).  The museum is holding back revealing the design so Peter Lewis can look it over and make any changes he wants so he will fork over the cash. 8-)

Don't jinx this, dammit! :)

Combine this with MOCA, which should have renderings coming out in the next few weeks... Office dA doing the residential and retail part of this, Gehry and Vinoly (not really a fan, but world known nontheless) down the street, and this will be a reference point in world architecture for this time period, no doubt about it.

 

Any news on when we're going to see renderings?  Seems like it should be any day now, no?  I'm excited to see what they propose ...

 

^Why should it be any day now?  What do you know?

See the quote from W28th that I referenced.  Unless I'm mistaken, on 10/29, he said they should be released in a few weeks ... which, by my calendar, is about now.  No?

 

 

 

Give it a few more weeks, my prediction was perhaps a bit on the low side of the time frame of producing the renderings.  They are definitely in production though.

I was wondering what's up with MOCA designs?  A few months ago one of the posters said renderings would perhaps be coming in a few weeks.  I guess the perhaps won.

^The director of the museum was on WCPN's "Around Noon" show last week and discussed the project.  She said they are still in their "quiet phase" trying to raise $$ and are apparently only showing the design to potential donors (the big buck guys) to see if they can raise enough before they go public.  She said this process is quite common (which it is).  They don't want to release the design with high expectations and then find out they cannot raise the $$ to complete the project.  She said they are encouraged by the response to the design so far and I think she said the have about one third pledged, although I am not sure.

 

If I recall, when it was revealed a design was in hand last fall (September), the quiet phase was only suppose to last a couple of months and here it is almost 7 months later.  I too am itching to get a look at this.  Maybe I should consider donating a mil or so so I can get a peek.

^ I just read an article saying that the CMA was running over budget, but contibutors were stepping up to cover the gap.  I just hope that what is good for the CMA is not bad for MOCA

I think it's a lot harder for MOCA to raise money than for the CMA under any circumstances.  CMA makes it look easy.  I hope MOCA is pulling it in though...I want that new building!

I think it's a lot harder for MOCA to raise money than for the CMA under any circumstances.  CMA makes it look easy.  I hope MOCA is pulling it in though...I want that new building!

 

Im hoping Mr. (Peter) Lewis, with his love of modern art and his generosity in NY, would play a large role here....  If the design is "progressive" enough.

Kindof funny timing right after somebody asked about MOCA.  To be expected I guess.  Hopefully they do stay with the their initial and intended design and dont have to scale it down because of problems raising the funds. 

From the PD:

 

http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2009/03/museum_of_contemporary_art_cle_1.html

 

Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland delays unveiling of new building design

Posted by slitt

March 09, 2009 17:40PM

 

 

Clevelanders will have to wait a bit longer to see plans for the new home of the Museum of Contemporary Art building proposed for the Triangle development in University Circle, aka Uptown.

 

Jill Snyder, MOCA's director, said Monday that the while the institution has reached the halfway mark in fundraising for the project, that's not enough to satisfy the board of trustees that it's time to go public. She said she sent a letter to museum supporters on Friday describing the status of the project.

 

MOCA had planned to unveil the plans and head into the public phase of the campaign this month. But the recession has changed of all that...

 

 

Just got word from a friend at a local Architecture firm that they received the job for the pre-schematic material review of the new museum.  Apparently it is moving into the next phase.  He sent over the massing site plan and it looks really cool.

(Channeling MTS)  And you didnt post the massing because?

(Channeling MTS)  And you didnt post the massing because?

 

You need to see a Zen-psychotherapist  w/ the quickness!  :evil:

(Channeling MTS)  And you didnt post the massing because?

 

You need to see a Zen-psychotherapist  w/ the quickness!  >:D

 

sorry i was out of town for a couple of days - here you go

Those triangles and squares have no business being in the Circle

It's just a massing of the buildings.  They won't be just bland squares.  See the Uptown Thread.

 

But the rendering of MOCA here is design specific.  I don't like it.... at least not for this corner.  On the other hand, combined with the Gehry building, the new construction at the hospitals and the classics down in UC, the area will definitely be architecturally diverse.

Those triangles and squares have no business being in the Circle

 

Not to read too much into that image but University Circle is one of the few places-if not the only place-in Cleveland where envelopes are being pushed...at least concerning architecture.  Granted we seem to land starchitects a number of years after they make their initial and often times greatest splash but still...  Whether or not one likes such and such building, sculpture, etc.,  the diversity makes UC more valuable to the citizens and enticing tourists who WILL COME to see this collection of buildings.

 

 

Actually I think it looks pretty damn hot. There are not many buildings around that look like this one. Plus I think this would be the first builing by these particular architects in the U.S. no?

^^I've always said that love him or hate him, Gehry's work on the Weatherhead Building raised the architectural awareness for the various institutions in UC (with the most obvious results being the Botanical Gardens, CMA, CMNH's Shafran Planetarium - they could have made their additions bland boxes, after all). Not sure how I feel about this rendering of the new MOCA, though.

Those triangles and squares have no business being in the Circle

 

That's not fair!  They could put that design anywhere and it would look equally out of place.

Ahh... figured it was only a matter of time before someone posted this. Images of this thing have been getting passed around between architects in Cleveland like they're a drug for a couple years with somehow no one leaking anything.

 

I think it has a lot of potential to be quite excellent though. Granted we have no idea what the detailing is going to be like, what the materials are, or how the inside is going to function, making it too soon to pass any kind of final judgement.

 

That being said, it is an icon, which MOCA obviously wants (or they never would have hired FOA). Formally, I do think it mediates the geometry of the corner pretty well. My impression is that the design is a critique on the nature of icon as architecture. FOA have had various projects that are interested in iconography and iconic buildings in contemporary architecture. Farshid Moussavi wrote a book a couple years ago as part of a class she was teaching at Harvard called "The Function of Ornament". Understanding FOA's interests helps to explain why this project is a giant piece of bling.

 

In regards to context, remember all of those white boxes are going to be contemporary buildings by Saitowitz / Natoma and Office DA. Add to the fact that UH's new hospital tower is going up on the other side of Euclid / Mayfield along with all the new construction on other nearby sites, MOCA will probably end up looking surprisingly contextual when its all said and done.

that building needs to be on the northeast corner of that intersection, not in the middle of it. that spot is perfect for a square or public space. the intersection is very busy, and though it is very nice to get rid of that single story oppressive brick building that the huntington is in now, putting MOCA at the corner is a mistake imho. i know they are redoing the area in front of that curved plaza with the quiznos and q'doba, and that looks like it will be cool, but i believe the area could support a larger public space on the other side of mayfield and the moca building would be perfect at the N.E. corner of euclid and mayfield. but, then again, maybe this is the right move. just my opinion.

 

now i am a relevant critique of architecture, and as far as the built-form is concerned i find it extremely beautiful as a sort of "jewel" or, like rockitect put it, icon architecture. it performs well in that regard, and if the building is to be located there then I can not withold my praise. i will be happy to take any of my friends who are visiting to this location!

It's not just (or even critically) the style that makes it out of place, it's the placement. Are they really knocking the sidewalk down to 4' on the Euclid side, or are they just sloppy with the rendering?  Do they expect pedestrians to cross Mayfield and then filter around the building on narrow sidewalks or vice versa?  What's going on at the ground floor?  Looks to me like windowless, blank walls.  Would we except that out of a design firm with a lesser pedegree?  How does this building get accessed by patrons? For loading/unloading?  What's it going to turn it's service oriented back to?  Euclid, our main street?  Mayfield, which would be nice to upgrade as a link to Little Italy? The little pedestrian pass-through behind it? (I'm assuming the main entrance would go there)  Are any of those good options?  Maybe it's accessed by underground tunnel?

^all good questions... and that's why I'll wait for more details to come out before judging... but my initial response to the form and design of the building... is that I for one really like it.

Those triangles and squares have no business being in the Circle

^Geometry nerd...  :wink:

 

Did the image get removed? :(

I'm not seeing the image on this thread, though I've been doing the drug for quite some time...

Looks like the forumer removed it this a.m.

That makes my heart ache :(

If anyone knows how I could get my hands on the rendering (for my own personal consumption only), could you PM me?

^ "aha heartbreak" to crib the Kings of Leon.  Yeah, I missed the rendering too.

Hmmm... I wonder what, if any, effect this will have on MOCA.

 

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3154917

 

 

:clap:Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland is nearly ready to build a dramatic new home in University Circle

By Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

February 08, 2010, 8:34PM

The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, long a foil to the bigger, richer and more conservative Cleveland Museum of Art, is on the verge of a breakthrough.

 

After renting less-than-visible space for 20 years in the Cleveland Play House complex in Midtown, it's nearly ready to build a dramatic black-glass-and-steel building in University Circle.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/02/museum_of_contemporary_art_cle_2.html

You beat me to it by 30 seconds!  Great news though.

The verbal description of the renderings make it sound great.  I don't understand the secrecy surrounding any images, though.

Well they had said they wanted to refrain from disclosing them because if they could not raise the funds required to build it they didn't want to have to publicly scale the plans down and create disapointment.  That being said now they are almost over the hump ($11 million is still no chump change to be short on) they might do well to release them, they might get some smaller donations that might add up...

How big is this building going to be? Just curious

Excellent news.  With the recent redesign/expansion  for the CIA's McCullough Center, the 118 and Coltman 24 townhouses along w/ other developmen in the area, I really hope the forward momentum can shake loose enough credit to stimulate the main residential piece of the mixed-use portion of Uptown at Euclid-Ford-E. 115.

How big is this building going to be? Just curious

 

I am pretty sure it is well under 100k sqft... I remember someone had put up some renderings awhile ago that leaked but was forced to remove them.  Maybe some one who recalls can give you more accurate information.

^ 34,000 sf according to the article.

^ The same size as LBJ's house in Bath!

 

Not sure how I feel about the black glass and steel for that particular intersection but will wait for the renderings.  Is there any indication that it will be something like that "cube" image we saw before?

^ The same size as LBJ's house in Bath!

 

Not sure how I feel about the black glass and steel for that particular intersection but will wait for the renderings. Is there any indication that it will be something like that "cube" image we saw before?

 

I believe it to be the same one (for those who got a glimse).  They describe it as gemlike....

It sounds like it would be a cool space but I agree the exterior description sounds similar to a "70's/80's" mistake or something.  I guess we have to wait for March for a better look.