Expansion of SAM in Seattle by Allied Works

On May 5, 2007, a new section of the Seattle Art Museum was opened. The original building from 1991 was designed by Robert Venturi. The museum's expansion, costing 90 million dollars, is the project of Oregon-based architect Brad Cloepfil. The museum now features 3,400 m² of new space, 1,200 m² of which will be dedicated to exhibitions. Architects from Allied Works conceived the expansion as a sixteen-story high-rise building that is tightly attached to the existing five-story postmodern structure of the museum. The new section is not just an extension of the museum: only four floors will serve its needs, while the remainder of the total area of 12,000 m² will be leased out. The top four floors will soon be occupied by the banking company Washington Mutual. The glass structure, whose facades are animated by shading fins, creates a transition between the museum and the 42-story skyscraper. Various setbacks and projections of the facade, along with the fin grid, enliven the otherwise monotonous mass of the building. The verticality of the entire design is also reflected inside. Two-story gallery spaces allow views upward and downward, thus realizing the architect's vision of a "vertical museum". Link>