When Simone Wicha took over as director of the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin in 2011, she inherited a complex of two buildings — completed just three years earlier — that, by her own description, was “nestled perfectly into campus.”
Its Mediterranean-inspired architecture fit with U.T.’s historic palette, and its tree-filled plaza, designed by the landscape architects Peter Walker and Partners, tied into the campus’s thick green canopies and long pedestrian walkways. But while it worked as a campus museum, it didn’t match Wicha’s vision for a world-class one. It fit too well.
The Blanton literally looked inward (its two front doors faced each other across the plaza), and the plaza’s trees blocked views of the entrances. “It was really just a couple of banners announcing here was an art museum, ” Wicha said. As a result, people often walked right by.
“It’s hard to make your case that this is your community museum when you don’t have a front door,” she added. “You get to a place where you don’t want to be the best kept secret in town anymore.”
Wicha has since helped shape a museum that stands out on campus, in the city, and in the art world. Inside she has revamped educational and curatorial programs and reorganized and refreshed the galleries. The collection has grown from 12,500 works to more than 16,250. Outside, she helped open, in 2018, Ellsworth Kelly’s ethereal chapel for art, “Austin,” which put the museum on the international art map. The final piece of the puzzle is now complete: a $38 million transformation of the Blanton’s grounds by the Oslo-based architecture firm Snohetta, which includes bright new entryways, energetic public art, diverse planted spaces, and casual lounging and performance spots, all highlighted by a series of 39-foot-tall fiberglass “petals,” providing invaluable shade (particularly during the city’s scorching-hot summers). And more than a little noticeability.
Wicha, who had worked at the Blanton as deputy director of external affairs and operations before becoming director, was well aware of its strengths and weaknesses. The new project brings the museum experience outside the building itself and makes the space between its two buildings a centerpiece, not a pass-through. (While the project opened last year, full landscaping and signage wrapped up this spring.)
Wicha’s chief partner on the project was Snohetta’s founder Craig Dykers, who received his architecture degree at U.T. (as did another Snohetta founding partner, Elaine Molinar, who was also involved with the design). Wicha and Dykers met on campus in 2016, while “Austin” was still under construction. Snohetta would later develop a scheme to propel the museum into the future while simultaneously respecting the existing campus, the natural landscape and the city at large. That was not an easy task.
The 12 centerpiece petals — spreading an ample 30 feet wide at their tops — reference, and frame, the arched loggia fronting the museum buildings; Austin’s Capitol dome, just to the south; and the curves of Kelly’s building. Each also evokes natural forms lunging toward the Texas sky, and captures dappled light, poking through varied perforations, as the sun dances its way through tree canopies. The fiberglass stems conduct heat down to the ground, rather than radiating it as steel would. Their hollow shafts also help direct rainwater into the surrounding soil.
The landscape, consisting of 25,000 new plants (most native and drought-tolerant), twists and morphs around all of the museum’s buildings and Live Oak trees and alludes to the area’s many ecosystems, from the Texas Hill Country to the encroaching Chihuahuan Desert.
To accentuate its gallery entrances, Snohetta inserted bright yellow arched vaults; the Michener Gallery’s arch is upside-down, wryly indicating that it is the complex’s main art-viewing space. Vibrant murals were created by Carmen Herrera (whose bright green loggia abstractions draw from local buildings and plant life), Kay Rosen (who has created a billboard-size wall mural that says simply, “Hi.”) and Gabriel Dawe (whose shifting, rainbow-colored woven sculpture, “Plexus No. 44,” floats over the renovated entry lobby).
“I was very comfortable in making it a joyful, unexpected experience as you walk in,” Wicha said. The new grounds are sophisticated and artful, but not aloof or intimidating, as many museum spaces can be. The sense of informality connects to Austin’s overall vibe. “The design encourages people to come, explore, and interact with the environment,” Dykers said. “It’s about creating a sense of community and connectivity.”
Metropolitan Austin, which has grown exponentially in recent years, to more than two million people in 2022 from 1.2 million in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, has long craved a museum to meet its new moment.
“It’s the museum that makes sense for the city,” Wicha said. “The city deserves it.”
