Art Institute of Chicago Modern Wing in Chicago, United States

July 11, 2010 Category: Art, Urban Design

Art Institute of Chicago Modern Wing that located in Chicago, United States, was designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The opening of the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago is being celebrated today as the culmination of an enormous community effort. The 264,000 sq ft, Renzo Piano-designed addition is the largest expansion in the museum’s history and increases the museum’s size to more than a million sq ft, making it the second largest art museum in the United States.

To celebrate the opening the museum are offering free entry for all and for the opening week, the Art Institute is collaborating with the Greater Chicago Food Depository and asks visitors to bring canned goods to the museum to help provide food for the Chicago community.

The new wing consists of two pavilions flanking the central area of the Kenneth and Anne Griffin Court and provides three floors of gallery space, a shop, café, fine dining restaurant and an interior garden. The east pavilion houses the education center as well as photography and film, video, and new media galleries on the first floor, galleries for the museum’s permanent collection of contemporary art on the second floor, and galleries for the permanent collection of modern European art on the third floor, under an innovative sun shade system that allows natural light into the galleries.

In the west pavilion, the first floor is devoted to the new museum shop, the Modern Shop, visitor services facilities, and special exhibition galleries that will feature modern and contemporary art.

Art Institute of Chicago Modern Wing Design by Renzo Piano Building Workshop