David Adjaye has quickly risen in status as one of the most sought-after museum architects, with his design for the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. and the Studio Museum in Harlem’s future home having been widely celebrated. Among his latest projects is a new building for the Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey, which is set to double in size through Adjaye’s design.
Renderings for the design, which were revealed on Wednesday, aspire to the status of a “campus within a campus,” according to Adjaye, who added that the museum will offer “a space of genuine inquiry where the exhibition of diverse practices, learning as a synthesis of knowledge and cross-cultural connections weave together into a singular experience that encompasses a multiplicity of ideas and peoples.” Construction is set to begin in 2021, with a completion date slated for 2024.
The three-story museum will include seven connected pavilions that include greater visible storage space and spots where artworks can be inset into floors and walls. Its intention is to create an effect that is “all fronts and no backs,” according to a release.
Adjaye’s firm, Adjaye Associates, is now at work on a new building for the Studio Museum in Harlem, which ranks among the most closely watched architectural projects being undertaken by an institution anywhere currently. The new Studio Museum will be set on New York’s storied West 125th Street and evoke the form of a cathedral. According to the museum’s website, construction is currently expected to continue through 2021.
Here’s a look at the renderings for Adjaye’s design for the Princeton University Art Museum.