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In true modernist fashion, the envelope's composition of opaque, translucent, transparent, and reflective surfaces defies the term "facade." It simply defines volume. Yet, for elevations with so little inflection, the major aspects of the building manage to support a variety of urban conditions.

Setting City Scenes

On the museum's river side, a great stair opens seamlessly from the street, siphoning passersby from sidewalk to entry so that they may find themselves visiting the museum almost without having formed an intention to do so.

At the top of the steps, a restaurant terrace overlooking the Mississippi invites them to linger. A connection through the foyer to a plaza and sculpture garden on the museum's city side allows them to continue their journey, having glimpsed a place they will want to revisit.

At street level, unfortunately, the Figge's monumental scale appears to compromise its urban purpose. The enormous plinth on which the museum stands responds to a considerable fall-off in grade across the site. While the plinth's solidity and scale make a fine base for the transparency and scale of the building above, the plinth contributes only blank walls to the pedestrian's experience of the surrounding streets.

Form and Function

Both shed and jewel, the Figge transcends the museum designer's dichotomy. In form, it is unapologetically shed, its great volumes in part a reference to the agricultural vernacular of the region. In material, it is unreservedly jewel: a double glass skin that by day admits a diffuse wash of light, and by night emits a welcoming glow.

The skin consists of inner and outer layers. Panels of double-glazing and insulated, perforated metal-sheathing provide thermal enclosure, and a single layer of fritted glass acts as wind and rain screen, reduces heat gain, and, with varying degrees of opacity, generates a sense of depth in the facade.

Continuity and Community

The interior layout of the Figge derives largely from the Davenport Museum of Art (1925), the Figge's less urban forbear, which was the first regional art museum in the state. By the 1990s, its collection of works and well regarded cultural programming had outgrown its facility.

The Figge represents the Davenport Museum of Art's transition from a public to a private institution, renamed in recognition of a lead donor and longtime patron of the arts, and supported with both private and public funds.

The new museum provides a fresh setting for a historically rich mix of exhibition and cultural programming. New program elements include educational spaces, drawing and study studios, and lecture and library facilities. Fittingly for a neo-modernist monument in the heart of America, the Figge's premier exhibition, "The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity 1915-1935," revisits the dawn of American modernism.

The museum's move and transformation express a community's commitments to the vitality of its cultural life and urban environment. Plinth aside, Chipperfield's landmark building provides a powerful expression of these commitments.   >>>

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Katharine Logan designs and writes to further a more meaningful and sustainable built environment.

SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE Figge Art Museum by British firm David Chipperfield Architects, in Davenport, Iowa. Photo: Ogy Blazevic/ © Figge Art Museum South entry. Photo: © Timothy Hursley South entry stairs. Photo: © Timothy Hursley Side stairs. Photo: © Timothy Hursley Distribution of functions (section looking south). Image: David Chipperfield Architects Bar and cafe. Photo: © Timothy Hursley Wintergarden stairs. Photo: © Timothy Hursley Interior stair, with Sol Lewitt painting. Photo: © Timothy Hursley   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.