Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas / Vereinigte Staaten

Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art

Organizers
Dallas Museum of Art (DMA)
www.dma.org

Competition coordination
Malcolm Reading Consultants
malcolmreading.com

About the Competition
The Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art International Design Competition is an open search for an architect-led multidisciplinary team to revitalize one of North America’s leading art museums. As a civic institution, the Museum is open-minded about competitors, welcoming local, Texas-based, US, international, emerging and established practices.

Advocating for the essential place of art in life, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) has a global collection of 26,500 artworks from all cultures and time periods that spans 5,000 years of human creativity. The beauty and diversity of the Museum’s collection is a constant source of discovery, as well as a testament to the civic commitment of individuals who have built the collection for the citizens of Dallas. The collection includes important holdings of the arts of ancient Americas, Africa, and South Asia, and in European and American painting, sculpture, and decorative arts, as well as one of the most important collections of modern and contemporary art in the United States.

Nearly forty years ago, the DMA was the founding institution of the Dallas Arts District. The District has become the largest in the United States, and key to Dallas’ identity as a nexus of culture, creativity, inclusivity, and dynamism, as well as an economic engine for the city.

Now the Museum, located on a prime site, seeks an architectural reinvention to better serve the diverse city of Dallas, and enliven and update the presentation of its collection, including its range of global icons, to speak to the present moment.

The DMA’s 1984 building by Edward Larrabee Barnes was designed for a different Dallas, a different time, and a different society. Conceived among warehouses and undeveloped city lots, the austere Modernist design in Indiana limestone forefronted elegance and quiet dignity. But in a different cultural context, with changing visitor expectations, with access to art now an issue of equity, diversity and inclusion, and with ambitious new skyscrapers and parks emerging around the Museum, Barnes’ capacious two-block campus can be read as unwelcoming, off-putting, and defensive. Visitors find the complex difficult to navigate, while inflexible and dated galleries have resulted in iconic artworks languishing in storage.

The Museum is working hard to engage new and diverse audiences and communities, and to attract national and international visitors to Dallas to enjoy: ​‘a space of wonder and discovery where art comes alive…’.

To support this program, the DMA needs greater physical visibility, it needs to be transparent, show what is going on inside, and be emotionally woven into the city’s fabric, and welcoming and accessible to all.

This international design competition is the first step in DMA’s plan to achieve these aims.

A funding campaign seeking support from both public and private stakeholders is due to launch later this year.

As Dallas Museum of Art’s Eugene McDermott Director Dr. Agustín Arteaga explains: ​‘The Museum is committed to the principle that art is at the center, and equity and community are at the core of all we do.’

Specifically, the competition program envisages an addition or additions that would add flexible galleries, and a reorganization of its circulation and entrances, as well as a holistic reapportioning of internal space. Nearly four decades since it opened, the Museum also requires comprehensive modernization and upgrade of services framed within a thoughtful sustainability strategy.

The estimated project budget is circa US$150–175m.

This two-stage international competition seeks architect-led multi-disciplinary teams with an open call for submissions. No design is required at the first stage — rather teams will need to study the Search Statement, and submit their approach to the project, team composition and relevant experience, as well as company details, through the digital form.

At the second stage, up to five teams will be selected to engage with the Museum and prepare concept designs. An exhibition of the finalist concept designs will be held at the Museum and the schemes will also be available to view online, giving the community an opportunity to view the submissions and give their feedback.

Each finalist team will receive an honorarium of US$50,000 and a contribution to expenses of up to US$10,000 at the conclusion of the process.

Finalist teams who reach the second stage of the competition will need to partner with a design practice registered to practice in the State of Texas; the competition encourages creative collaboration.

This first stage is open until 10:00 CDT (GMT‑5) March 15, 2023.

More information and details at
competitions.malcolmreading.com/dallasmuseumofart