An oasis for the intellect and the spirit, Rothko Chapel in Houston will begin a restoration and renovation project in March 2019.Courtesy of Rothko Chapel, Photo by Runway Productions
Rothko Chapel in Houston is open every day and open to all, but come March 2019, the contemplative center with a global reach and following will close for a $14 million, eight-month restoration, the initial phase of sequenced renovations for the two-acre campus, located west of downtown Houston and near the Museum District.
The $30 million multi-stage project and related capital campaign – called “Opening Spaces” in reference to the spatial plans as well as Rothko Chapel’s metaphysical role – is slated for completion by 2023.
An art and activism resource, Rothko Chapel is home to 14 monumental modernist panels by artist Mark Rothko. In 2021, it will observe the 50th anniversary of its founding as an oasis for the intellect and the spirit by Houston arts patrons and philanthropists Dominque and John de Menil.
Rothko Chapel Executive Director David A. Leslie said a campus master plan was developed over the past 18 months. Its scope addresses and responds to the passing of time on the facility and grounds, the wear-and-tear of more than 100,000 visitors a year, and a need for spaces to better accommodate them, expanded programs and events, plus archives and administrative offices.
Between preservation efforts and modifications, the total project’s upgrades are intended to bring the visitor experience of Rothko Chapel closer to its founders’ and artist’s intentions, project sources said.
Describing the work to come, New York-based Architecture Research Office Principal Stephen Cassell said modifications to the chapel will bring back a sense of light and wonder to the interior, “to stay true to the original vision of Rothko and the de Menils.”
The chapel’s enormous, central skylight (initially designed to duplicate the one in Rothko’s Manhattan studio, Cassell said) had previously been altered several times to baffle the reality of Texas-strength natural light and protect the panels. The results undermined the intended emotional experience between viewer and art, he said.
The skylight will be re-revised using current building and lighting solutions, by George Sexton Associates, so that viewers will once again be able to read the nuances of the powerful panels as well as observe their connection to the outdoors as conditions shift, such as when clouds pass over, he said.
A new system of skylight baffling inside Rothko Chapel will help return the interior to a space filled with natural light, more as it originally appeared.Courtesy of Rothko Chapel. Photo by Hickey Robertson
Meanwhile, chapel access will be widened and reworked, because visitor procession in and out are also important to fully experience Rothko Chapel, he noted.
Phase I also adds a new building across the street from the chapel. A single-story 1,000-square-foot Visitor Welcome House will provide orientation, historical and interpretive materials, storage for personal items, programming updates, and an expanded bookstore/gift shop, Leslie said.
Phase II, slated to start in 2020 or 2021, adds a 6,400-square-foot building for the organization’s archives and administrative offices, a two-story building of 5,300 square feet for programming and events (with small catering kitchen and green room for featured guests), and a courtyard connecting the three new facilities.
A portion of the new program building (about 1,400 square feet) will accommodate the campus’ mechanicals. They are currently vulnerable, Leslie noted, as they’re located below grade – something no longer considered prudent even though the property did not flood during Hurricane Harvey and other storms.
In addition, the campus landscaping will get a fresh take on how it looks – and how it functions, Cassell said. An example of the former is a new meditative garden planned for a site adjacent to the chapel and its plaza, where a reflection pond quietly features the 1970 Barnett Newman sculpture, “Broken Obelisk.” The campus grounds, meanwhile, will be gaining more visual buffering between the site and adjacent properties, which are owned by other entities in what is a redevelopment-prone part of the urban core.
The overall project is not without challenges, Leslie said. Among them is staying sensitive to the unique neighborhood setting in which it is located. Rothko Chapel’s campus is located at one end of the 30-acre campus of The Menil Collection, which is ringed by an assemblage of century-old, gray-painted bungalows associated with the museum and used by various arts organizations.
Two of the bungalows, owned by Rothko Chapel, will be removed to make way for the new building construction, which has a low-slung, modern style though in materials similar to the existing stock. A third bungalow, now home to its offices, will be replaced by the meditative garden later in the project.
During the upcoming closure, programming will continue through community partnerships, enhanced website offerings and satellite facilities, project materials said.