Newly renovated and expanded, the Hood Museum of Art, located in Hanover, NH, is a hybrid of newly constructed facilities and restored/updated spaces from the original 1985 Charles Moore building. The Museum provides active spaces for teaching, exhibition, exploration and dialogue.
Designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects Partners (TWBTA), the 16,350 square foot museum comprises two floors of public exhibition space and study galleries, a third floor for administrative offices, and a lower level for object storage and exhibition preparation.
Particularly intriguing is the off-white brick façade of the new building. The finish was carefully selected by the architects to be in complementary conversation with the existing structures along the Green, and with the adjacent buildings on either side of the Hood: the traditional redbrick Wilson Hall and the modernist Hopkins Center. The Charles Moore building is constructed of Flemish bond brick with gray brick cornice and copper roof.
Highlights of the interior galleries include a sweeping arrival gallery and a double-height gallery with ceilings to accommodate tall sculptures or complex installations. Another gallery, facing the Green, features a 14-foot square plate glass vitrine window on the Hood’s front façade – a signature architectural element that allows art to be visible from the Green.
