Jurors Call Building ‘Delightful And Appealing’—

New Aldrich Museum Building Garners Award For Design Excellence

RIDGEFIELD — The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum’s new building, which opened in June 2004, has received a design award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), New England. AIA New England selected the museum from over 230 submissions. The architect for the Aldrich’s expansion was Charlie Hay from Tappé Associates (Boston), with Richard Burck Associates of Somerville, Mass., as the landscape architect.

Of the new Aldrich, the jurors wrote: “This is the renovation and expansion of a contemporary art museum in [a] historic, residential neighborhood. The sloping site is surrounded on all sides by residential properties. The design solution successfully and innovatively integrates art and architecture in a residential neighborhood scale … The overall design addresses the sloping site and creates continuity and connection between the buildings. The refreshing use of vernacular materials in new ways addresses the need for the building to respond to the existing neighborhood and historic commission regulations. This is a delightful and appealing project.”

West Coast architects were the jurors for the AIA New England awards this year. They included Mallory Scott Cusenbery AIA (RossDrulisCusenberry Architecture, Sonoma CA), Lisa Iwamoto (IwamotoScott Architecture, San Francisco), Richard N. Pollack FAIA, FIIDA (Richard Pollack & Associates, San Francisco), Allison Williams FAIA (Ai Architecture, San Francisco), and Michael Willis FAIA, NOMA (Michael Willis Architects, San Francisco). They commented on how “delighted [they] were to see the variety of work in New England and the obvious and admirable competence” of their New England colleagues.

Founder Larry Aldrich, who passed away in October 2001, was in attendance earlier that year when The Aldrich Board of Trustees voted to proceed with the major renovation and expansion.  Groundbreaking took place in April 2003, and the galleries were closed to the public until its reopening in June 2004.

Today The Aldrich is comprised of the “Old Hundred” building, which houses the museum’s administrative offices, and a new white clapboard and granite museum building.

The Aldrich’s 25,000 square feet of new and redesigned space accommodates 12 galleries, including a screening room, a sound gallery, a 22-foot-high project space, a 100-seat performance area, a state-of-the art education center, museum store, and a redesigned two-acre outdoor exhibition space, The Cornish Family Sculpture Garden.

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, at 258 Main Street in Ridgefield, is renowned as a national leader for its presentation of outstanding new art, cultivation of emerging artists, and innovation in museum education.

Regular museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5 pm.

For more information, call 203-438-4519 or visit www.AldrichArt.org.