Art Docent Info

The Building: Design and Materials

• The Architects:
  Charles Gwathmey, Partner-in-Charge
  Gwathmery-Siegel and Associates Architects
  Nancy Clayton, Associate-in-Charge
  Paul Boney, CEO, BoneyArchitects, Inc.
  Christopher Boney, AIA, Partner, BoneyArchitects, Inc.
  
  
• The numbers: $12.5 million project cost
  42,000 total building square footage (you will also hear 43,000)
  11,700 total gallery square footage
  9.6 acres of and
  

• “The building is in itself an abstract sculpture, and that is not of the language that everyone is used to. This museum is not supposed to look like a home. I think architecture is about provoking the perceptual and anticipatory abilities, and getting people to think about it is what we’re going for.” Charles Gwathmey continues, “I think everything counts. There’s a certain level of detail that, if it’s not built exactly, reveals a lack of craft, which it requires. The ultimate idea is that our buildings should survive time. Not that it has style or is chic or tricky or flashy. Everything has to line up.” (“Architect: Building’s design is a sculpture itself, Morning Star (Wilmington, NC) April 18, 2002)
  
  
• “For me, it was an opportunity to build a modern building in a place like Wilmington and extend the city’s architectural legacy instead of doing a fake historic architecture” Charles Gwathmey (Art museum’s look gets mixed reactions from city, Star News (Wilmington, NC) March 31, 2002)
  
  
• "The idea of art and architecture coexisting is what a museum should be. What's dynamic about this museum is the idea of having historical works in a modern building because it makes you more aware that great paintings don't have to be displayed in a period room to be romantic or dense. I think, academically and intellectually, the art museum is an ideal building type because you're engaging all the fine arts - architecture, sculpture and painting - all into the same place." Charles Gwathmey (“Architect: Building’s design is a sculpture itself, Morning Star (Wilmington, NC) April 18, 2002)
  
  
• He left his marks or signatures on the building: the three triangular skylights atop the temporary galleries. Another place: the separater he calls his "purple diamond," a modern cube between the café and the clay exhibition area in the galleria. (“Architect: Building’s design is a sculpture itself, Morning Star (Wilmington, NC) April 18, 2002) reflecting changes in the museum this is now a black cube.
  
  
• “Listen, abstraction is a tough thing. People universally want to deal with what they know. I think architecture is about provoking the perceptual and anticipatory abilities. This is not about like or dislike but being aware and more conscious of the world around you. A word like bunker can have a negative connotation, but it also means protective, permanent, unrevealing, and when you go in, it’s a transformation. To me, that’s a compliment.” Charles Gwathmey (Art museum’s look gets mixed reactions from city, Star News (Wilmington, NC) March 31, 2002)
  
  
• "It looks like it's supposed to look, like an art museum and almost looks like a piece of art itself" says Hunter Brown, a UNC Wilmington student. That's the point according to Gwathmey who adds "You don't have any idea how big it is inside just by looking at the outside, so you enter, it's an incredibly unexpected revelation" (Art museum’s look gets mixed reactions from city, Star News (Wilmington, NC) March 31, 2002)
  This "inflation of scale" is known in Gwathmey's work - a building can imply a much larger structure and it is difficult to assess its true size.
  
  
• The role of BoneyArchitects Inc.... "We oversaw the construction of the museum. We were Gwathmey's "eyes and ears" in town, and reported back to their firm during construction. We served as a conduit for information between the contractor, architect, and owner. It became quite a job, and I ended up spending nearly full time on the project toward the end." (Christopher L. Boney, AIA Principal - Wilmington, LS3P Boney, October 11, 2007)
  
  
• As with his houses, fundamental architectural problems are addressed in the design of the Cameron museum: history and context; site influences; arrival, procession, and circulation; scale and proportion; light; the relationship between public and private domains; architectural materials; and the technology of construction
  
  
• "The solid facade presents an ambiguous scale and establishes a sense of expectation and discovery that is revealed through the light filled, volumetric, modulated interior, which is enriched by the art" (Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, Buildings and Projects 1992-2002 Edited by Brad Collins, First published by Rizzoli International Publications)
  
  
• The building anchors the intersection of two major arteries (17 th Street and Independence Avenue)
  
  
• The building is organized around a double height exhibition galleria/café area with a courtyard.
  
   
• There is no clear "front"
  
  “You don’t have to think of a front door or back door concept. When a museum sits in a park, as this one does, you have to think of every side as the front. You have to make it appealing from 360 degrees, so the building looks crisp from all sides." Ren Brown (Art museum’s look gets mixed reactions from city, Star News (Wilmington, NC ) March 31, 2002 )
  
  As Gwathmey describes the museum “So the idea in a sense is that this building has four fronts. It has a road front, it has an entry front, a park front and the landscape, berm, courtyard front. And the idea that it’s a building which is seen in total three dimensions on the site makes it an architecture in the landscape. (September 13, 1998 presentation of the museum at Thalian Hall)
  
  This concept invites a similarity in design between the Cameron Art Museum and the Gwathmey Residence.

  In talking about the houses designed by the "Five Architects"...The one house that does not involve any system of frontalization as all is the Charles Gwathmey Residence and Studio of 1966. This house is sited so that an approach by car yields an immediate oblique view. One can never view this complex frontally. It simply cannot be read in these terms. One sees it only as a continually changing sequence of oblique views. (Kenneth Frampton in “Frontality vs Rotation”, Five Architects, New York, Oxford University Press 1975, ISBN 0-19-519794-1)

   

• The entry point to the museum is the center of an axial connection between the Civil War historical site and the sculpture park. The Battle of Forks Road was fought on the site on February 20, 1865. It was the last battle for the Confederate Army defending Wilmington in the Civil War. Two brothers fought against each other, Bob Horne, a Union soldier and Hosea Horne, a Conferate soldier. Both brothers survived the war but never spoke again. ("Museum preserves Civil War battle site", Wilmington Star News, April 18, 2002)
  

• As you enter the building you are at start of what Gwathmey refers to as "museum's spine", the hallway that runs a path from the entry doors to the classroom. To your immediate left is the gift shop, just before the front desk. To your right is the Brown Wing. As you pass the front desk there is a small area, now an office, and restrooms. As you proceed down the hall to the left are the Galleria Cases opposite the restaurant/courtyard. As you continue the Hughes Wing will be on your right just before the auditorium at the end. Across the hall from the Hughes Wing doors are the doors to the area that is behind the Galleria Cases. it is a two story height facility that holds administrative offices, a library, conference room, a projection room (for the auditorium/multi media room) and support facilities, and a service elevator.
  
  

• There is a rose window called “Two Trees amid the Harvest” designed by Rowan LeCompte in the auditorium. The window was donated to the museum by Rachel Mellon. It was originally commissioned for the family’s private chapel. The window features an oak and an apple tree, crafted to represent Rachel and Paul Mellon. A border of leaves was added to the window for the museum installation. A theater light in the projection room will shine on the window at night to make it glow as a beacon for the museum. Rowan LeCompte has crafted 45 windows for the Washington National Cathedral. (Light dawns on CameronGalleries – Installation of lighting at art museum a crucial element in completion, Star-News, Wilmington, NC, February 3, 2002) LeCompte, a renowned stained glass artist, has always created stained glass windows the old way-using hand blown glass, fired painted glass, and strips of lead. The window was installed by Dieter Goldkuhle with the help of the designer.
  
  
• Brown pointed to the glass. "That's the gift shop. And notice the panes..some are long rectangles, others vertical, some square. And down the galleria there...on the right the rectangle...the back of the bar for the restaurant. Off to the left a carved niche in the wall is one side of a circular reception desk.
  (Omar Mardan, October, 2007)
  
  
  
• The museum was two years in construction, broke ground in April 2000, opening day: April 21, 2002. Clancy and Theys Construction Company was the main contractor on the project and hired about 50 subcontractors.
  
  
  
• The construction process: The biggest issue was getting the level of finishes "just right". There was very little "tolerance" in the design- everything fits together like a jig saw puzzle. There are no "cover joints" that allow the contractor to miss by an inch or two and be OK. If the framing was not perfect, for example, the window installation would be off, and we had to peel back layers of finished work to correct it. (Christopher L. Boney, AIA Principal - Wilmington, LS3P Boney, October 11, 2007)
  
  
• Comments by Senior Project Manager, David Michael:
  “A lot of detail and patience was taken with this exciting project. I don’t know of a building we’ve worked on that has as complicated a mechanical system as the museum. But through it all, the one component that really brought the building together for me was when the Brazilian cherry wood floors were finished throughout the building. Then it looked like a museum.” ("Cameron: A museum 2 years in the making", Wilmington Morning Star, Thursday, April 18, 2002)
  
  
• 22,000 square feet of Brazilian cherry wood donated by Dean Hardwoods Inc. is installed in all public areas, including exhibition galleries, the Galleria down the middle of the museum, the museum shop and the auditorium. Brazilian cherry wood is three times as dense as American cherry wood. It is heavy and can withstand anything from high heels to fork lifts. ("Donations to Cameron add quality – Flooring, furniture and Web site design among gifts given to the museum", Star News, (Wilmington, NC), February 10, 2002)  
  
  Ren Brown did not want joints in the floors. This has caused the floors to buckle and repairs have had to be made. (Johnnie McKoy, Property Manager, Cameron Art Museum , September 2007)
  
  
• "The natural palette of magnesium brick and zinc articulates a hierarchal massing, rendering the building as an abstract, provocative, contrapuntal, architectural collage imposed on a natural rural site." (Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, Buildings and Projects 1992-2002 Edited by Brad Collins, First published by Rizzoli International Publications)

• The building exterior is magnesium brick, metal panels and zinc siding. It changes color under different lights. Mr. Brown said the brick and siding were chosen because they match the gray-green bark on the longleaf pines. (Art museum’s look gets mixed reactions from city, Star News (Wilmington, NC) March 31, 2002)
  
  
• The exterior materials: Originally, Gwathmey proposed using copper and black brick to reflect the colors of the native pines on the site (black bark, brown needles when they drop). The copper siding was changed in favor of Zinc during design. I believe this was because of the more durable nature of zinc, and its self-healing properties. Cost may have also been a consideration - at the time, copper prices were rising rapidly. A cheaper brick was proposed, and repeatedly rejected by the design team. The magnesium black brick has a shimmer and sheen - real depth to it. Other proposed cheaper alternatives were basically brown brick, painted black. When they chipped, you could see the color beneath. We demonstrated this to Mr. Cameron and Ren Brown, and they agreed - when the mag black brick was chipped, it was the same color through and through.
  
  The siding is a "Rheinzinc" product. This is pre-patinated zinc siding. It came on a truck from Canada, and we stored the flat sheets at Cape Fear Bonded Warehouse until they were needed. The pallettes of material were incredibly heavy! Hanover Iron Works performed the metal work, and it took essentially two craftsmen on site full time for about two months to install the sheets. They started at one corner, and the panels ship-lap one over the other, both horizontally and vertically. The first three installations were rejected after they covered about 500 square feet because they did not look right - the men had to take them down to the very beginning and start over!
  
  The zinc is part of a complex siding system using the "rain screen" principle. From inside to out, the layers are as follows: metal studs, 3/4" plywood, Air/moisture barrier, exterior rigid insulation, 2" air gap for drainage, 4" metal "z clip" studs, another layer of 3/4" plywood, building paper, then the Rheinzinc panels. The principle is that the metal panels repel rain and UV rays, and there is a redundant
  layer behind that that blocks humid air and controls temperature. the addition of the air gap also helps to equalize air pressure across the surfaces in high wind events. Similarly, the brick cavity wall has air vents at the top and bottom, allowing for an equalization of pressure within the cavity. This is kind of like why you used to poke two holes in the top of a metal can of juice - it places equal pressure across the surface. Magnesium brick has high conductivity which means that it responds quickly in both absorbing and giving up heat – a quality that increases storage efficiency and decreases temperature fluctuations. It is steady under temperature and pressure and resists eroding. (Christopher L. Boney, AIA Principal - Wilmington, LS3P Boney, October 11, 2007)
  
  
  
• Three skylight flexible lofts became the distinguishing symbol of the museum.
  Gwathmey knew what he wanted - the gridwork on the skylights.
  
  We (Nancy Clayton and Christopher Boney) were inventing a system from scratch, which had to be simultaneously lightweight, hold electrical tracks (which involved code compliant junction boxes to be incorporated into it), be accessible to removing the translucent panels, allow passage of a chair lift through it to service the skylight screens above, and it also had to look perfect. The contractor found an aluminum welder that worked on sport fishing boats. Nancy and I selected sections of aluminum from a catalog and gave them a "kit of parts" to build it. They then welded many mock ups for us to review before they got it just right. We then had them fabricate the individual straight sections and grind the welds in their shop, and bring the components to the site. They put them together piece by piece on the floor of the gallery, had it inspected by the electrical inspector, and then hoisted into place. then, they needed to get them perfectly level on all four stanchions at the same time. (Christopher L. Boney, AIA Principal - Wilmington, LS3P Boney, October 11, 2007)

• Mr Gwathmey was looking for a signature element that would identify the museum, and the pyramidal lights did that for him. And some artwork really benefits from being seen under daylight, because sun rays have the full spectrum of light color that the eye can perceive, which no electric light source has. It makes sense because many of the paintings were created in the light of day and need the same conditions to look their best. says Scott Matthews, chief lighting consultant for Gwathmey-Siegel and Associates Architects ("Light dawns on Cameron Galleries – Installation of lighting at art museum a crucial element in completion", Star-News, Wilmington, NC, February 3, 2002)
  
  
  “The pyramid lights in the temporary art galleries have an electronic scrim or a sophisticated version of a window blind that can block out either 100 percent of 50 percent of the daylight, adjusting the light to the type of artwork and its needs. Added artificial track lighting in the galleries evens out the light when daylight is not consistent for instance at night or on a cloudy day.(“Architect: Building’s design is a sculpture itself", Morning Star (Wilmington, NC) April 18, 2002)
  
  
• The temporary art galleries known as the Hughes wing have natural and artificial light. There are screens below the glass triangular lofts that open up for natural light to enter. The lighting was installed below the screens so if the screens are closed the lofts would not be lit up at night. The building manager installed temporary lighting in the lofts that operates on sensors so that when we have exhibits like the Long Exhibit, where the screens must be closed at all times the lofts will still be lit at night from the road. This gallery also has large double doors on the courtyard side to enable artwork to be brought in and movable walls to adjust the floor space. (Johnnie McKoy, Property Manager, Cameron Art Museum , September, 2007)

• Brandston Partnership Inc., in New York, worked with Charles Gwathmey, the museum architect, and museum officials to create the design for the lights and the controls that determine how much light comes into the space at a given time. (Light dawns on CameronGalleries – Installation of lighting at art museum a crucial element in completion, Star-News, Wilmington, NC, February 3, 2002)
  
  
• Three triangular peaks atop the roof catch one's eye. Brown explained that they are skylights to let in natural light. But in a museum? Shouldn't light...especially sunlight...temperature and humidity be closely controlled? Brown said that the skylights are over an exhibition gallery, and the amount of light that enters can be automatically adjusted from full light to no light. He explained that the glass is not transparent but translucent, which diffuses light. Two scrims that slide across the base of each skylight act as illumination controls...there are lay ceilings suspended below each skylight, each with a translucent panel to further control natural light. And there is track lightingon each lay ceiling to add artificial lighting. The system was the work of the lighting engineer, Harry Brandston, who has won a lifetime achievement award from the AIA....Brown noted "There is a system of 10 or 12 settings, I can punch a button and the whole building goes to candlelight. Then I punch another button and get...well whatever I want in any of the galleries."
  (Omar Mardan, October, 2007)
  
  
  
• The temporary galleries are named for Samuel Hudson Huges, a local philanthropist.
  The Brown wing is named for C. Reynolds Brown, former director of the museum.
  
  
  
• The small round holes at the bottom of the building are for air ventilation. The flood lights along the outside were originally at ground level pointing upward but there were problems with water. They were reinstalled higher on the sides. The holes at the top of the building are for water drainage. (Johnnie McKoy, Property Manager, Cameron Art Museum, September 2007)  
  
  
• We went through a lot to get the building put together. But it was a great experience all in all. Perhaps the funniest moment came at the very end when Mr. Gwathmey kissed Bruce Cameron at the grand opening! (Christopher L. Boney, AIA Principal - Wilmington, LS3P Boney, October 11, 2007))
  
  
• The curious structure beside the Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum looks almost like a spaceship. The 3,600 square foot education facility opened in September 2003. The museum honors the building's donors, including Walter and Beth Pancoe, who gave the largest contribution to the $750,000 cost. The building was designed by Charles Gwathmey. The side entrance leads into a long hallway with a shiny gray floor. Three parts of the long white wall on the left will be a student gallery once art classes start. Two large rooms open to the right. The first can be be split into two classrooms or opened up. There second room is dedicated to ceramics classes and rooms for meeting or larger classes. The building contrasts the Cowan House, a home in the Historic District on Second Street, where the former St. John's Museum of Art held it art classes after 1979. ("Art education center opens at Cameron", Star-News (Wilmington, NC) September 26, 2003)
  
  
• The Pancoe Art Education Center...It has a wonderful kind of playful quality compared to the institutional quality of the museum building. The Site architect for the project is Lisle Architecture & Design Inc. and the local building contractor is All-Span Building Systems Inc. ("April date set for art museum's final phase", Morning Star (Wilmington, NC), March 13, 2003)
  
  
• The plan for the future is to open the courtyard by taking down the gate and having a stage at the north end, with landscaping to include trees for shading. Outdoor living is part of Wilmington and the goal is to attract people and utilize the space for cultural gatherings. Charles Gwathmey originally envisioned an addition enclosing the courtyard as a referential center space. This future plan would in a sense "enclose" the courtyard by defining it with a stage and landscaping. (Deborah Velders, October 2007)
  
  
  Prepared by Anne Curtin, art docent at the Cameron Museum , October 2007