Don't Build, Towards Photoshop Architecture

written by Aaron Betsky

 

When I moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2006 to direct the Cincinnati Art Museum, my mission was to build something big and new.  More precisely, it was to oversee the expansion of the oldest art museum west of the Alleghenies through the implementation of a 2005 Master Plan that foresaw tearing down part of the historic campus and creating up to 11,000 square meters of new space.  After the economic crisis of 2008-2010, but also after reviewing the real needs of the Art Museum, I came to the conclusion that what the institution needs is first and foremost to use every square centimeter of its existing building.