The Bloch Building

The Bloch Building’s lenses house gallery space that dots the landscape and responds to the undulating topography outside. The expansion is the first major addition to this cultural institution and Beaux-Arts style structure since it opened in 1933. The Bloch Building is considered a “feather” to the original museum’s “stone.” Moving through the addition, visitors experience a flow between light, art, architecture and landscape. The channel and laminated glass provide diffused natural light into the galleries, and the clear glass offers visitors open views of the Sculpture Park at various points in the galleries and halls. At the heart of the addition’s lenses is a structural concept merged with a light and air distributor concept: “Breathing T’s” transport light down into the galleries along their curved undersides while carrying the glass in suspension and providing a location for HVAC ducts. The double-glass cavities of the lenses gather sun-heated air in winter or exhaust it in summer. Optimum light levels for all types of art or media installations and seasonal flexibility requirements are ensured through the use of computer-controlled screens and of special translucent insulating material embedded in the glass cavities.