The Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach has selected the Los Angeles-based architecture firm Johnston Marklee to lead its forthcoming expansion, which will see a new pavilion built on 22,000 sq. ft of space currently used for parking.
The firm is well versed in museum expansion and renovation projects, having converted Roy Lichtenstein’s former Manhattan studio to house the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program, built the Menil Drawing Institute on the campus of the Menil Collection in Houston, and led a significant renovation of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The firm has also designed spaces for several Los Angeles galleries including Marian Goodman Gallery, Honor Fraser, Roberts Projects and Various Small Fires.
The firm's Bass Museum project will build on the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Arata Isozaki’s 1995 concept for the institution's campus in Collins Park, centred around Russell Pancost’s Art Deco pavilion from the 1930s. The museum last underwent a major renovation and expansion in 2015-17, which cost $12m and added around 10,000 sq. ft of exhibition and public space.
“We are thrilled to reimagine the southwest corner of Collins Park for The Bass,” Mark Lee, the firm’s founding partner, said in a statement.
Sharon Johnston, a founding partner at the firm, added: “Through careful analysis of light and shadow, space and volume, and the surrounding park and urban context, we are planning a transformative project that will increase public access to the museum’s programs and artworks.”
The project will include three main elements: an elevated gallery to display the museum’s expanding permanent collection while meeting resiliency guidelines in flood-, heat wave- and hurricane-prone South Florida; an outdoor patio with a mix of shaded and exposed areas; and within the patio a stage area for outdoor screenings and events.
No timeline, preliminary designs or budget for the project have been announced. In November 2022, the museum was awarded $20.1m in city-issued funds as part of a municipal bond authorised by local voters.
“Having just celebrated our 60th year, we are firmly focused on the future, and this expansion is a vital part of that vision, allowing us to deepen our engagement with artists and our community by creating new, flexible spaces to gather, reflect and experience art in meaningful ways,” Silvia Karman Cubiñá, the museum’s executive director, said in a statement. “We cannot wait to unveil it and to welcome visitors from near and far.”
The Bass Museum puts on robust year-round programming that puts local, regional national and global artists in dialogue. Additionally, the museum becomes a compulsory art-world destination every December when the international community descends on Miami Beach for the local Art Basel fair, held two blocks away at the Miami Beach Convention Center.