Designtel - Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, I.M. Pei

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art [1973]

I.M. Pei

A masterwork of stacked spatial planning, I.M. Pei’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is a monumental concrete structure that sits as part of the Cornell University complex atop a slope overlooking a lake in Ithaca. The stacking of program facilitated the preservation of many of the vital site vistas, with the concrete (specifically coloured and textured to blend with the adjoining older masonry buildings) punctuated by horizontal window bands that push light into the gallery spaces. The striking fifth-floor cantilever provides its most defining move, extending outward to offer a canopy for the outdoor sculpture garden below.

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