Artis—Naples Baker Museum
Resilient design strategies are coupled with programmatic strategies that allow Artis—Naples to better serve the surrounding community and provide enhanced visual and performing arts programming.
Artis—Naples is a thriving cultural institution in Florida that combines one of the largest visual and performing arts centers in the southeast with an active schedule of events, exhibitions, and entertainment, including music, dance, cinema, theater, and art—attracting top artists from around the world.
The Baker Museum renovation and expansion launches Artis—Naples into the future—matching physical growth of the museum with the aspirational growth of the institution. Our design entails both the repair of the museum's façades, necessitated by Hurricane Irma, and the expansion of the existing museum to the south with an improved entrance and new event, educational, and museum support areas. The facility houses several new spaces for art, performance, education, and social interaction.
The Baker Museum's curved exterior is clad in stone and metal with a durable water-resistant barrier to protect against future storms. The Norris Courtyard at the center of the new Artis—Naples Cultural Campus features sculptures and provides a setting for both events and direct access to The Baker Museum. The new museum entrance sequence provides a more open public experience and visible museum entry, relocating the museum store and ticketing to the museum lobby. The first floor gains the multipurpose performance and learning center for lectures, rehearsals, art exhibitions, and educational programs. A monumental exterior stairway leads to the new second-floor event space, which accommodates ensemble performances, receptions, lectures, and exhibitions. Another addition is the rooftop sculpture terrace, accessed from a third-floor gallery, which provides views of the Gulf of Mexico.
Artis—Naples has taken the initiative to rebuild stronger, prioritizing greater protection against future weather events, while broadening its accessibility to the public. Resilient strategies include improved waterproofing and drainage, the installation of a durable façade system, hurricane tested glazing, installation of a protected loading dock, and the incorporation of an ecological landscape design that accounts for proper drainage and utilizes native plantings. These resilient design strategies are coupled with programmatic strategies that allow Artis—Naples to better serve the surrounding community and provide enhanced visual and performing arts programming.
The museum reception increases contiguous gallery space; an open arrival with an information desk, gift shop, and lobby welcomes patrons; and the outdoor terraces take advantage of the climate, providing space for outdoor sculptures and events. These public spaces are complemented by enhanced service, storage, and museum support spaces. The integration of resiliency and programming objectives results in seamless connections across the museum’s campus, while laying the groundwork for future improvements and growth.
The new west- and north-facing façades are clad in two-story bands of fluted metal with limited discreet apertures, protecting the art galleries within the museum.
In contrast to the previous public space (above), the newly paved courtyard features a welcoming entry to the museum, native plants, a water fountain, an outdoor café, benches, and outdoor space for people to gather over sculpture and events.
The south-facing stone façade frames an opening towards the second-floor event space and a pergola-covered rooftop terrace, revealing the activities occurring within the museum.
The Baker Museum’s curved exterior is clad in stone and metal with a durable water-resistant barrier against future storms.
Reprogramming the museum and shifting education spaces to the first floor provided an opportunity to expand exhibition space throughout the museum.
Breakout galleries provide an interior inflection to the outdoors, featuring artwork along views of the campus.
The addition of a second-floor event space provides a platform for Artis—Naples' multidisciplinary programming, integrating performance and the fine arts.
The grand stairway creates a sense of grandeur as visitors enter and draws physical and visual connections between the museum's interiors and the central campus.
Strategies of resiliency and cultural programming result in seamless connections between open and enclosed spaces across campus, anticipating future performing arts venues.