Los Angeles-based architecture studio MILLIØNS, led by Zeina Koreitem and John May, has reimagined the East Wing of the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York.
Completed in 1968, Everson was the first museum designed by late Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei. The renovation honors Pei’s brutalist masterpiece—specifically how the structure produces intense contrasts of darkness and light.
This is especially the case in the East Wing, which is mostly below grade and where daylight conditions produce a chiaroscuro effect. MILLIØNS offset this by introducing materials and surfaces that multiply the reflection and refraction of natural light.
The concrete façade was cleaned to reveal a subtle pink tint, inspiring a design approach that incorporates this hue throughout the interiors.
The Everson Museum’s new café
The renovation also marks the opening of the museum’s café, Louise. The dining concept from Drēmer Restaurant Group is named after Louise Rosenfield, a Dallas-based potter and Everson trustee who donated her collection of more than 4,000 functional ceramics to be—not simply displayed but—used by museum-goers
A series of two-story glass towers house the Rosenfield collection along with open shelving, which allows café visitors to reach in and pick out any ceramic object they want to eat or drink from, blurring the boundary between art and the public.
Diners can also scan the ceramic pieces with their phones and discover the stories and artists behind each one.
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