Two Raised Pavilions Planned for Miami Beach's Bass Museum

Architects Johnston Marklee have unveiled designs to expand the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, Florida, with two new pavilions set to rise on land that now serves as parking, Dezeen reported.

The new space would cover 22,000 square feet, about 2,040 square metres, at the south-west corner of the museum's campus in Collins Park. The Los Angeles-based firm was chosen in April. The Art Newspaper reported at the time that the project would add gallery space, a patio and an outdoor event area.

The main exhibition space sits in the two rectangular pavilions. They stand on a thin concrete base and are raised off the ground to meet resiliency guidelines, which are design rules meant to help buildings cope with flooding and storms. A skylight, an opening in the roof that lets in daylight, is planned for the pavilion closest to the wing designed by Arata Isozaki, the Japanese architect behind an earlier expansion of the museum.

At the centre of the design is a backlit oculus, a round opening that will light the walkway beneath the structure after dark. The walkway is part of the plan's effort to keep the campus open to people passing through it.

The main building has a long history. Russell Pancoast designed it in the 1930s as a library. The Bass opened there in 1964, and Isozaki's expansion came later. Mark Lee, a founding partner of Johnston Marklee, said the design is meant to preserve Pancoast's 1942 Art Deco design and to honour Isozaki's idea of a porous campus, one with open routes through it.

Lee said the firm was thrilled to reimagine the south-west corner of Collins Park for the museum. Fellow founding partner Sharon Johnston called the project transformative and said it will increase public access to the museum's programmes and artworks.

The expansion was also described by ArchDaily as including a new gallery for contemporary art and community events. The Bass has said the project is due to be completed in 2027.

For visitors, the change would mean more room to show art and more places to sit, walk and gather outside. For a museum that has grown in pieces over nearly a century, it also means the newest building will sit beside the old one, rather than replace it.