In 2006, the Smithsonian gut-renovated the old neo-classical Patent Building with a covered courtyard by Sir Norman Foster and a major upgrade of Modern and Contemporary Galleries, among others. The galleries faced major challenges for design: Too much daylight and no wall space. The double-height windows wrapping the galleries and the pervasive white marble and grid of columns made the integration of a simple, usable wall system for modern and contemporary art very difficult.

In addition, we were asked to locate, isolate, and design several large-scale permanent displays within the historic triple-height volume of the Lincoln Gallery. Among them, US Superhighway by Nam Jun Paik, is a cacophony of dozens of speakers from dozens of TV monitors, while David’ Hockney’s Snail Space, created while he was going deaf, required an experience of total silence in the gallery. Working with Harvey Marshall Berling acoustical engineers, we developed one of the most sophisticated acoustical treatments in a single museum space.