MASS MoCA Building 6
MASS MOCA BUILDING 6
Bruner/Cott & Associates
ARCHITECTS
Bruner/Cott & Associates
OWNER
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
LIGHTING CONSULTANT
Lumen Studio
CONSTRUCTION MANAGER
Gilbane Building Co.
CIVIL ENGINEERING
Hill Engineering
COST ESTIMATING
Daedalus
MEP/FP ENGINEERS
Petersen Engineering
ELECTRICAL, FA ENGINEERS
R.W. Sullivan
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
ARUP
ACOUSTICS
Acentech
SPECIFICATIONS
Kalin Associates
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT
GZA
CODE AND FIRE PROTECTION
Cosentini Associates
STRUCTURAL WOOD TESTING
Wood Advisory Services, Inc.
EXISTING CONDITIONS BUILDING
Existing Conditions Survey, Inc.
FOOD SERVICE
Colburn Guyette
HARDWARE
Assa Abloy
ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS
Over,Unver
MANUFACTURERS
Bona, Berridge, CornellCookson, Mitsubishi Electric, Wausau Window and Wall Systems, Won-Door,
thyssenkrupp, Cornell, Eaton B, Imperial Glass Structures Company Lean
PHOTOGRAPHS
Michael Moran
AREA
130000 ft²
YEAR
2017
LOCATION
North Adams, United States
CATEGORY
Museum, Adaptive Reuse
Text description provided by architect.
A pioneering adaptive reuse project, Mass MoCA breathes new life into a 17-acre industrial complex built in the late 1800s.
The museum was completed in three phases, initially opening to international acclaim in 1999.
The third and final phase, Building 6, is the realization of the architect’s 25-year master plan, which continues Mass MoCA’s “museums within the museum” concept.
Two buildings with a combined 130,000sf of undeveloped space create areas for video, film, and multi-media exhibits, as well as events, workshops, and storage.
The massiveness of both the buildings and the complex, with interlocking courtyards, bridges, and walkways, offered the opportunity to experiment with open spaces, structural elements, and connections.
Design interventions weave in and out of over one thousand columns, hundreds of windows, and acres of maple factory floor.
Existing spaces are edited, sculpting a two-story glass-roofed central core, a lounge at the museum’s “prow,” and two-story openings for art and visual connections.
The original building remains legible—giving scale, context, and history—but has been thoroughly transformed for its new life as a museum.
The building’s most important orienting, ceremonial, and transitional spaces are created through the act of sculptural salvage, rather than the addition of new materials.
All bricks, structural wood, and finished wood used on the project are salvaged from the building itself—greatly reducing transportation, extraction, and industrial energy.
The result is a transparency that encourages experimentation and collaboration within the framework of a place known for centuries as a center for innovation.
