Arkell Museum By designLAB architects, United States

October 24, 2009 Category: Cultural, Public Buildings

The Arkell Museum was designed by designLAB architects is located in New York, United States. Designlab has created a museum of the Foundation, the renovation of its library, historic 20th century site of the original Beech-Nut Factory in Canajoharie, New York. Located on the scenic Mohawk River, the museum tells the story of the multifaceted intersection between local manufacturing, art and culture through the prism of the arts patronage of industrialist Bartlett Arkell, founder of Beech-Nut foods.

The scheme Designlab permeates the forgotten industrial site with a new life through thoughtful renovation and a programmatic approach to hiring. The extension provides over 8000 sf of additional gallery space to complement the original 800 SF Nightwatch Gallery, which houses copy ordered Bartlett Arkell of monumental Rembrandt, with many paintings of landscapes, domestic scenes and genre .

Arkell’s collection of late 19th and early 20th century American art boasts works by Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper, Thomas Hart Benton, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, Gary Melcher, and Andrew Wyeth, among many others. The renovation of the old library gambrel roof is mixed with an added contemporary art gallery which alludes to the industrial past of the museum.

To create a more dramatic impact and power of the Interstate near the museum subtly references the monumental works and the famous “Beechnut” sign of the plant Crisp white geometry that serves as backdrop for the museum. The 5 acres leading to the museum is composed of two 150 feet long by 8 feet high land formed eskers, celebrating the local geology of the rich agricultural landscape of the valley of the Mohawk River. From the outside, the structure reads like a series of light boxes that give the Arkell Museum – and the town of Canajoharie – a presence that is visible from the nearby New York State Thruway.

Arkell Museum By designLAB architects in New York, United States