The Dallas Museum of Art Has Received 154 Submissions for Its International Design Competition

The following is a March 22 press release from the Dallas Museum of Art announcing the industry’s response to its Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art International Design Competition open call. The museum has received upward of 150 submissions from around the world.

The Dallas Museum of Art today announced an outstanding response to its open call: Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art International Design Competition.

One hundred and fifty-four submissions from architect-led teams were received by the competition organizers, Malcolm Reading Consultants. U.S.-led teams, including Dallas-based teams, formed just over half of the submissions, with design teams from 26 other countries, including Mexico, France, UK, Italy, Japan and Germany, supplying the balance. Competitors include top-tier practices, notably a number of Pritzker Prize and The American Institute of Architects Gold Medal winners, as well as emerging studios.

The team submissions were warmly welcomed by the Museum. The response ranks highly with those for recent open museum competitions in the U.S., Europe, and Australia.

The architectural reinvention of the DMA, the anchor of the Dallas Arts District, is keenly anticipated. As the competition Search Statement explains, the Museum needs greater physical visibility, to be transparent, show what is going on inside and be emotionally woven into the city’s fabric, as well as being welcoming and accessible to all.

A refreshed and expanded campus will enable the Museum to better serve the diverse city of Dallas. It will create additional gallery space to accommodate an expanding collection and strengthen the DMA’s work with its communities.

“We are thrilled by the international design community’s response to our project,” said DMA Eugene McDermott Director, Dr. Agustín Arteaga. “The Dallas Museum of Art has a wonderful collection of art and an engaged, diverse audience—both deserve a transformative and inventive architectural proposition that renews the Museum. This is an opportunity to crystallize the latest thinking on museum architecture to serve and inspire upcoming generations.”

“The competition was open to designers all over the world and their response is a great compliment to the Museum,” said Architect Selection Committee Co-Chairs, Jennifer Eagle and Lucilo Peña. “We thank all the competitors for their interest. The Architect Selection Committee will now study the submissions carefully; we are determined to make decisions that will honor the Museum, the City and the talent drawn to the project.”

“This outstanding response shows how such an inspirational project can speak across cultures,” said Competition Director, Malcolm Reading. “The DMA’s competition website has attracted nearly ten thousand visitors from 114 countries. Dallas’s profile as one of the most exciting U.S. cities has been integral, as has the design challenge: to reflect and embrace change since the building was conceived in the late 1970s.”

The initiative envisages an addition(s) that would add flexible galleries and will reaffirm the Museum campus’s connection to surrounding neighborhoods. The program also requires a reorganization of internal space, circulation, and entrances, as well as a comprehensive modernization framed within a thoughtful sustainability strategy.

U.S., international, local, and regional teams were encouraged to enter the competition as well as collaborations between established and emerging talent. Stage one requirements included details of the proposed team; examples of relevant experience; and an initial approach to the project.

The DMA’s Architect Selection Committee (full details below) will meet in April to select up to five finalist teams who will go through to the competition’s second stage.

These teams will attend a site visit in Dallas and receive a detailed briefing in May; they will also take part in a public conversation at the Museum.

The finalists will have nine weeks to create a concept design before the Architect Selection Committee meets again to interview them and select a winner. All teams will be required to include an architect registered in the State of Texas as part of their team at Stage two.

A public exhibition of the shortlisted schemes will be held at the Museum in July, alongside an online exhibition, with opportunities for communities to give feedback.

Looking for more museum news? See past coverage here.