Adelaide Cobb Ward Sculpture Hall

The Adelaide Cobb Ward Sculpture Hall serves as a connector of old and new, thoughtfully bridging the 1930s Beaux-Arts detailing of the original museum’s Kirkwood Hall with the modern expressions of light and space in the Bloch Building addition. Expanding upon the concept originally conceived by designer and BNIM’s collaborator, Steven Holl Architects, BNIM’s design of Adelaide Cobb Ward Sculpture Hall celebrates Nelson-Atkin Museum of Art’s past and present. The centrally located sculpture hall serves as convening hub for surrounding European galleries and as the shared “heart” of the museum’s historic building and its contemporary counterpart to the east. Sensitive renovations of the Atkins Auditorium, the Atkins Lobby, and Atkins Stair Hall were also included in this project, contributing to the circulation and cohesive experience from the grand central volume of Kirkwood Hall through to the Bloch Building lobby.