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Kreeger Museum
The Kreeger Museum is a modern and contemporary non-profit art museum located in Washington, D.C., United States. It is located on Foxhall Road, one of the residential neighborhoods of the city, in the former home of Carmen and David Lloyd Kreeger, pillars of the Washington D.C. arts and cultural community, and it contains the art collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century paintings and sculpture they acquired from 1952 to 1988.
The building, among Washington's premier modern mansions, was designed in 1963 by Pritzker Prize winning architect Philip Johnson (known for building in the "International Style" at that time), together with Richard Foster, and sits on five and a half wooded acres in Northwest DC.
The design brief was for a private residence that, one day, would become a museum harbouring the extensive art collection acquired by the Kreegers. The building served as the Kreeger home from 1967 to 1990. On June 1, 1994, the Kreeger Museum opened to the public.
My thoughts about the house today have not changed since it was first conceived. I believe it answered perfectly the program set forth by the Kreegers. Its monumentality is as correct and current today as it was when built. To the mantle of public leadership that he assumed so willingly. To the long-range vision that his home would eventually be a museum, constructed for the delight of generations that would follow his rich and rewarding life.
— Richard Foster, 1994
Johnson proposed a modern interpretation of a Roman villa, complete with sculpture terraces and reflecting pools, set in a décor of sprawling indoor and outdoor gardens. This may have resulted in his choice to build with travertine, a kind of young limestone, often used in Ancient Roman architecture and in neoclassical buildings, long the favorite style for government buildings in Washington, but mostly eschewed by other proponents of modernist architecture.
The house is protected from the main road by a 435 ft (132,5 m) long wall in rough-hewn travertine. For the Kreeger residence, Johnson envisaged a composition of asymmetrically arranged, groin-vaulted cubes with travertine walls facing the street and glass walls that open up vistas onto the wooded site surrounding the house. The building with a gross surface area of 24,000 ft2 (2230 m2) was designed on the basis of a modular system of cubes measuring 22 x 22 x 22 ft (6,7 x 6,7 x 6,7 m). The modular concept allowed the cubes to be adapted for different functions : living space, gallery space, and often, both. The largest open space in the building, The Great Hall, a two-story space that rises up to 25 feet (7,6 m), is topped by 3 vaulted domes that create a natural amplification system and provide for the excellent acoustics especially suited to chamber and piano music.
The architect's special consideration for the use of natural light and the articulation of structure, expressed by the travertine-covered reinforced concrete frame, the slim vaults covering each 22-foot module, or the baluster-like posts of the steel trusses that separate each vault, is paramount and complements the clarity of the plan. Without knowing the architect's intention, visitors experience an unusual calm in moving from one space to another. The particular dimensional units of similar size and the attention of the architect to progression through them is the "secret" to the pleasure of experiencing this particular building.
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Kreeger Museum
The Kreeger Museum is a modern and contemporary non-profit art museum located in Washington, D.C., United States. It is located on Foxhall Road, one of the residential neighborhoods of the city, in the former home of Carmen and David Lloyd Kreeger, pillars of the Washington D.C. arts and cultural community, and it contains the art collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century paintings and sculpture they acquired from 1952 to 1988.
The building, among Washington's premier modern mansions, was designed in 1963 by Pritzker Prize winning architect Philip Johnson (known for building in the "International Style" at that time), together with Richard Foster, and sits on five and a half wooded acres in Northwest DC.
The design brief was for a private residence that, one day, would become a museum harbouring the extensive art collection acquired by the Kreegers. The building served as the Kreeger home from 1967 to 1990. On June 1, 1994, the Kreeger Museum opened to the public.
My thoughts about the house today have not changed since it was first conceived. I believe it answered perfectly the program set forth by the Kreegers. Its monumentality is as correct and current today as it was when built. To the mantle of public leadership that he assumed so willingly. To the long-range vision that his home would eventually be a museum, constructed for the delight of generations that would follow his rich and rewarding life.
— Richard Foster, 1994
Johnson proposed a modern interpretation of a Roman villa, complete with sculpture terraces and reflecting pools, set in a décor of sprawling indoor and outdoor gardens. This may have resulted in his choice to build with travertine, a kind of young limestone, often used in Ancient Roman architecture and in neoclassical buildings, long the favorite style for government buildings in Washington, but mostly eschewed by other proponents of modernist architecture.
The house is protected from the main road by a 435 ft (132,5 m) long wall in rough-hewn travertine. For the Kreeger residence, Johnson envisaged a composition of asymmetrically arranged, groin-vaulted cubes with travertine walls facing the street and glass walls that open up vistas onto the wooded site surrounding the house. The building with a gross surface area of 24,000 ft2 (2230 m2) was designed on the basis of a modular system of cubes measuring 22 x 22 x 22 ft (6,7 x 6,7 x 6,7 m). The modular concept allowed the cubes to be adapted for different functions : living space, gallery space, and often, both. The largest open space in the building, The Great Hall, a two-story space that rises up to 25 feet (7,6 m), is topped by 3 vaulted domes that create a natural amplification system and provide for the excellent acoustics especially suited to chamber and piano music.
The architect's special consideration for the use of natural light and the articulation of structure, expressed by the travertine-covered reinforced concrete frame, the slim vaults covering each 22-foot module, or the baluster-like posts of the steel trusses that separate each vault, is paramount and complements the clarity of the plan. Without knowing the architect's intention, visitors experience an unusual calm in moving from one space to another. The particular dimensional units of similar size and the attention of the architect to progression through them is the "secret" to the pleasure of experiencing this particular building.