GASNews October/ November 2011 Volume 22 ... - Glass Art Society

physical plant are housed in a building
nearby. In general, the integration of the
different systems (structural, mechanical,
etc.) is at a level of precision rarely
achieved in the US, creating an absolutely
unique architectural experience.
The architects and Museum staff
worked together to develop a design and
systems that utilize natural light, safeguard
works of art and provide a comfortable
environment for artists and visitors. The
Museum thoroughly studied daylight
patterns to evaluate how light will enter
the Glass Pavilion every day of the year. To
prevent interior spaces from overheating
and to control light levels, a shading
system curtails the amount of daylight
entering the building.
The Pavilion continues an established
tradition of visionary architecture commissioned
by the Toledo Museum of Art for
its campus, including the University of
Toledo Center for the Visual Arts designed
by Frank Gehry in 1992. The Glass
Pavilion’s design is an extension of a
20th-century vision where cities made of
glass symbolized a new cultural and social
transparency and openness. Frank Lloyd
Wright and other visionary 20th-century
artists shared this ideal.
The Glass Pavilion’s primary purpose
is to provide an in-depth examination
of the creative process by presenting
the Museum’s glass collection within
One of the Glass Pavilion’s
hotshops in action (photo courtesy
of Toledo Museum of Art)
the context of all the visual arts. In the
Pavilion, artists and patrons can explore
the creative process of glassmaking
through the interpretation of the Museum’s
collection and by emphasizing the
relationship between the art created there
and the masterpieces in the collection.
Some museums focus on the history of
glass, and a few others contextualize
works in this media by integrating them
within the history of art. The Glass Pavilion
is unique in featuring the close physical
relationship between the TMA glass
collection, related works in other media
and its glassmaking facilities.
The studios in the Pavilion are stateof-the-art
and active, offering classes,
workshops and residencies taught by
world-renowned artists. Fitting with the
TMA’s Glass
Pavilion (photo
courtesy of Toledo
Museum of Art)
concept of the overall architecture scheme,
the studios are completely visible through
its large glass walls. It will be here where
a majority of the GAS demonstrations will
take place.
The Glass Pavilion reinforces Ohio’s
position as a major progressive architectural
patron. Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus
and Cincinnati possess a nucleus of
buildings of international significance,
including Cleveland’s Peter B. Lewis
Building at Case Western Reserve
University by Frank Gehry; Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame and Museum by I.M. Pei;
Columbus’s Knights of Columbus Building
by Roche Dinkeloo; Cincinnati’s Union
Terminal by New York architects Alfred
Fellheimer and Stewart Wagner and the
Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art by
Zaha Hadid in Cincinnati. Each building
was its architect’s first US commission.
Sejima and Nishizawa have received
international recognition for their work,
including The Japanese Architect’s Yosioka
Prize (1989), the Japanese Institute of
Architects’ “Young Architect of the Year”
(1992), the Architectural Institute of
Japan Award (1998) and, most recently,
the 2010 Pritzker Prize for architectural
excellence. Both Sejima and Nishizawa
were on the visiting faculty at Harvard
University in 2000.
Image Gallery
For more from the
Toledo Museum of
Art, click here.
7