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Official name: The Museum of Arts and Design Chazen Building
Also known as: The Lollipop Building
Formerly: Two Columbus Circle
Formerly: New York City Cultural Affairs Department
Formerly: The New York Cultural Center
Formerly: Huntington Hartford Gallery of Modern Art
Built:
1964- 1965
Designed by: Edward Durell Stone & Associates
Type: Skyscraper
Stories: 12
Location: 2 Columbus Circle
City: New York
State: New York
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A
strange looking building that resembles a piece of modern art, because it was designed to house art. Its design is a concave upright rectangle like a giant marble juice box with all the juice sucked out of it.
In its original design, the building's dges were perforated with double rows of round holes arranged in squares of four. The perforations were designed to allow the art inside to be viewed, at least partially, in diffused natural light. At the top was a series of double volume arches, adding to the verticality of this building. The building was more than a place to house art, it was a modern design exhibit on its own.
The building's fortunes have been up and down. Just five years after it opened, the art museum that first occupied it closed and the building was turned over to a New Jersey college. Later, the building became offices for city bureaucrats. A decade later, even they moved out, leaving a very large, very pretty, very vacant space.
After four years of gathering dust the Museum of Art and Design was selected to take over the building. It put together a $90 million rehabilitation plan that replaced the aging and neglected mechanical systems inside while at the same time giving the skin of the building a makeover, much to the horror of preservation groups.
The new look is all about lines instead of pockmarks. Its right angles suggest a retro-modern look in the feel of Buck Rogers, but at the same time provide a visual link to the Time-Warner Center next door, which is also looks like concave rectangles with right angles. The lines are actually long windows which allow even more natural light into the interior spaces while allowing those inside to take advantage of the building's height and location to enjoy one of the more remarkable views available of Central Park.
More interesting than the lines is the actual skin of the building. It's now made up of 22,000 terra cotta tiles coated with an iridescent glaze. This causes the building display splashes of pink and purple across its face as the sun moves through the sky and the observer moves around Columbus Circle. The tiles are also symbolic because much of the museum's collection is made up of glass and ceramic pieces.
**2002-2008 redesign principal architect: Brad Cloepfil
**2002-2008 redesign project architect: Kyle Lommen
**2002-2008 redesign architecture firm: Allied Works Architecture
**2002-2008 redesign construction manager: F. J. Sciame Construction Co.
**2002-2008 redesign mechanical engineer: Arup
**2002-2008 redesign curtain wall consultant: R.A. Heintges & Associates
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