Glenstone Expansion

This article appeared in the September 2020 issue of ARCHITECT as part of expanded coverage of the 2020 AIA Architecture Awards.

Given a nearly blank canvas, enviable resources, and over 100 acres to do with almost as they pleased, the team at Thomas Phifer and Partners made a rare and admirable choice with their design for the Glenstone Museum: They opted for restraint. Founded by philanthropists and art lovers Mitchell and Emily Wei Rales, the institution has occupied a small corner of the couple’s rolling estate in Potomac, Md., since it opened in 2006; with Phifer’s expansion, the public can finally get a sense of the sheer scale of the couple’s collection. (At press time, the museum is operating at limited capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Visitors can schedule a visit on its website; tickets are free.)

To house the 1,000-plus works of postwar painting and sculpture, the architects opted for a sequence of four towers flanked by low-slung, glass-faced pavilions, all built of stacked, blue-gray slabs of precast concrete and arranged into a courtyard scheme around a snaking, sunken lily pond. The minimal blocks give the structure its moody, somber atmosphere, while the procession down to and then around the water feature gives it a sense of unfolding discovery, of entering a distinct realm of quietude and intimacy that fosters a rare encounter with art.

All of this is contained within a park-like setting, completely devoid of cars and filled instead with thick grasses, native flowers, and thousands of newly transplanted trees, all but hiding it from the suburban estates on either side. Interspersed with the firm’s satellite entry and dining pavilions, a preexisting exhibition space by Charles Gwathmey, and outdoor sculptures beside winding paths and inside leafy groves, Glenstone is a landscape for contemplation.

Project Credits
Project: Glenstone
Architects: Thomas Phifer and Partners, New York. Thomas Phifer, FAIA, Gabriel Smith, FAIA, Andrew Mazor, Michael Trudeau, Rebecca Garnett, Jonathan Benner, John Bassett, Bethany Mahre, Petra Pearsall, Remon Alberts, Greg Bonner, Robert Chan, Isaiah King, Elijah Porter, Lamare Wimberly
Landscape Architect: PWP Landscape Architecture
Structural Engineer: Skidmore, Owings, Merrill LLP
Mechanical Engineer: Altieri, Sebor, Wieber LLC
Consulting Engineers Plumbing: Altieri, Sebor, Wieber LLC
Consulting Engineers Electrical: Altieri, Sebor, Wieber LLC
Consulting Engineers Fire Protection: Altieri, Sebor, Wieber LLC
Consulting Engineers Civil: VIKA, Inc.
Geotechnical: Schnabel Engineering DC
Arborist: Bartlett Tree Experts
AV/IT: CallisonRTKL
Code Review: PFP Engineering and Design
Concrete Consultant: Reginold D. Hough Associates
Cost Estimator: Stuart-Lynn Company
Elevators: Hector Columbani Associates
Façade Design: Heintges Consulting Architects and Engineers
Food Services: JGL Food Service
Fountain Design: Biohabitats
Graphic Design: 2x4
Irrigation: Sweeney & Associates
Landscape Architecture Consultant for “Split Rocker:” RAFT
Lighting Design: Arup
Master Mason: Philip Dolphin
Meadow Consultant: Larry Weaner Landscape Associates
Office Interiors: Stantec
Security: Layne Consultants International
Soil Scientist: Pine & Swallow Environmental
Specifications: Construction Specifications, Inc.
Stream Restoration: Aquatic Resource Restoration Company
Sustainability: Buro Happold
Waterproofing: Henshell & Buccellat