Understanding the Details: Robert Morris Museum

To understand the details, one must understand the complete work. This museum was dedicated to Robert Morris, a sculptor, conceptual artist, and minimalist theorist. His early work was based on paintings but later turned into sculptures relating back to the human form. The later work produced can only be fully understood by looking deeper at the form and what its implications are. Showcased in this museum area his two earlier works called MOLTINGSEXOSKELETONSSHROUDS and BOUSTROPHEDONS. These two are prime examples of looking deeper into the forms and slight subtleties that appear in the movements of the art.

The lighter shrouds are created from linen dipped in resin and dried over a mannequin before removing, turning it into a hollow shell. This process is repeated for the darker figures but instead, donning the material of carbon fiber as their cloak. The museum lends to showcasing his work by encouraging views of the works and even works that are not on display. This is accomplished by the glass "storage core" puncturing the center of the building. By incorporating three different uses of light, increasing visual connections throughout the building, and mentally processing space through a fluid interior to exterior, this building can become more than just storage for Robert Morris’s work, it can become a narrative.

The users enter through a grove of trees that direct their path. These Spartan Junipers line the edges of the building to create a "corner" without walls. As one moves through the galleries, they are brought to the stairway that leads straight through the "storage core" where they are then initially immersed in the art fully. They are then places among the shrouds where they can move around them and sense the proximity to their life-like figure. When the users exit, they again are moving past a grove of trees that make up the barrier between the street and the interior.

The beginning of the project started with a pavilion that spoke to intimacy and visual connections. These were the core concepts that were followed through in the museum. The pavilion remained a physically separated entity yet still connected to the museum as the "little brother".

Programs: Rhinoceros, Lumion, Photoshop, and Lightroom

Site: 14th and Lawrence, Lower Downtown (Denver, Colorado)

Project: Final Project Studio III Masters of Architecture