Tacoma Art Museum Shortlists Selected Design Firms

The Tacoma Art Museum in Washington state received 95 submissions in response to its recent call for design concepts to redesign the museum’s plaza and perimeter and create a landmark civic space that enlivens downtown Tacoma. Submissions were received by individuals and firms from Tacoma, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Richmond, VA, and New York.

The shortlist of finalists are BCRA (Tacoma, design team led by David Wright), the design team led by E. Cobb Architects, which includes Alchemie and Arup (Seattle, Vancouver, Sun Valley, worldwide), Johnson Architecture and Planning LLC (Seattle, design team led by Ben Gist), Mithūn (Seattle and San Francisco), NBBJ (Seattle and worldwide), and Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen & Charles Anderson Landscape Architecture (Seattle).

The museum’s Plaza Redesign Task Force, made up of Tacoma Art Museum Trustees and knowledgeable community members, met on June 22 to review the submissions and determine finalists for the interview stage of the selection process. Task Force chair Steve Barger noted: “We were pleased and gratified by the great response to our project. The submissions showed impressive creativity and a wide variety of approaches. The selection process was arduous. We now look forward to meeting the finalists for interviews on July 9.”

Director Stephanie A. Stebich added: “That we received submissions from across the country speaks to the museum’s vision of being a national model for regional museums. We will spend this summer working to select a finalist after the interview phase and other due diligence. After Board approval this fall, we look forward to introducing the community to the selected firm to provide their input into our design.”

About 75 interested parties attended the May 18 two-hour walk-through with Director Stebich, Curator of Contemporary and Northwest Art Rock Hushka, and the Plaza Redesign Task Force. They toured the museum’s plaza, parking area, and perimeter spaces. Many questions were posed and notes were posted on the museum’s blog. The museum created a public online forum at http://TacomaArtMuseumPlaza.blogspot.com/. The forum, moderated by Mr. Hushka, allowed for questions and perspectives specific to the plaza redesign process and scope to be shared by all potential designers during the submission period.