Davis Museum, Wellesley College

The leit­mo­tif of the project be­came the dia­lo­gue bet­ween the new cen­ter and the Je­wett buil­ding. Such a dia­lo­gue im­plied the crea­tion of an open in­ter­sti­tial space, which was the quickly con­fer­red the role of a square. Pre­si­ding over the square is the new mu­seum, a ver­ti­cal mass that con­fi­dently as­serts its pre­sence and be­co­mes the do­mi­nant ele­ment of the over­all space, en­ga­ging in con­ver­sa­tion with the keel of the Je­wett li­brary.
For an­yone who en­ters the buil­ding, the act of going to the top is like a pro­cess of pu­ri­fi­ca­tion. The light comes down from the sky­light, al­most as if from hea­ven. The sof­te­ned light, in­va­des the lower floors through a se­ries of openings, which are cle­arly per­cei­ved in the drawings for the project, but which are in­ten­ded to be in­con­spi­cuous to vi­si­tors in the ac­tual buil­ding. So in as­cen­ding, the buil­ding be­co­mes pro­gres­si­vely more open. The key is to ar­rive at this more com­plete mo­ment, this mo­ment of epi­phany at the top, where the fee­lings eli­ci­ted by one's con­tact with the art at last be­come clear.