I have mixed feelings about the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. You may have seen all the press that it received when the new building, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, opened last winter. Most photos of it are from the water, like the one above, where the cantilevered upper floors and canted sculptural media center are shown to their best advantage. Unfortunately it has a dreadful, blank, street presence; it’s pushed far back from the road, beyond a seemingly endless asphalt parking lot.
Shortly after it opened, I visited the museum with some fellow architects. As we toured the various exhibit spaces, we enjoyed bandying about stream-of-conscious criticism. We stopped sniping though when we stepped into the digital media center. It’s the space with computer stations serving stadium-style seating that projects below the cantilever and culminates in an enormous glass window, canted downward to frame a spectacular view of the water, not the shoreline. It was exhilarating. Later, in search of the restrooms we stumbled upon the Founders Gallery at the north end of the fourth floor exhibit space that runs the width of the building with a glass wall in the long dimension parallel to the water view. There you can stand above the water and take in the stunning panorama, as if the museum is merely setting the stage for the real show, the art of the contemporary cityscape.
But I digress. I went to the ICA most recently to tour their Design Life Now exhibit which was organized by the Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum and runs through January 6, 2008. Upon entering the exhibit, wall graphics proclaim, “This survey of design in the U.S. presents the best work from 2003-2006.” Really?
