Fayetteville-Based Blackwell Firm Selected as Finalist in Design Competition

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Marlon Blackwell is a Distinguished Professor and head of the architecture department in the Fay Jones School of Architecture. His Fayetteville-based firm was selected by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as a finalist for a design competition involving the Renwick Gallery.

Marlon Blackwell Architect, an architecture firm based in Fayetteville, has been selected by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as one of five finalists for the Grand Salon design competition that is part of a forthcoming major renovation of the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. The Renwick Gallery has been home to the museum’s craft and decorative art program since 1972.

The other finalist firms are Applied Minds, in Glendale, Calif.; Studio Odile Decq, in Paris; Vinci Hamp Architects, in Chicago; and Westlake Reed Leskosky, in Cleveland.

Marlon Blackwell is a Distinguished Professor and head of the architecture department in the Fay Jones School of Architecture.

“This is a real honor to be a finalist, and a new challenge for our firm to compete at the highest level,” Blackwell said. “Our design proposes to establish a dynamic 21^st century space that resonates with the existing Grand Salon using analog and digital fabrication techniques.”

For this international design competition, selected interior designers, artists and architects were invited to envision the 4,300-square-foot Grand Salon anew as a must-see destination for contemporary audiences. Each was asked to consider the relationship of a contemporary-designed interior within a historic one and create a spectacular destination space suitable for public programs, civic occasions and special events.

“The Renwick Gallery building was Washington, D.C.’s first showcase for art and a landmark in the development of the arts in this country,” said Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “The objective for this competition is to continue this tradition by creating a 21st-century signature architectural interior for the building.”

The five finalists will present refined concepts and cost estimates for the design concept build-out in June. Private funds will be raised to implement the proposed design once a final concept has been selected. The selected final design will be announced this summer. No structural alterations will be allowed to the Grand Salon. If accepted, the new Grand Salon design will remain in place for a minimum period of five years.

A major renovation of the Renwick Gallery, one of the most elegant examples of Second Empire architecture in the United States, is in the design phase. The renovation, which will begin in 2014, will include a completely renewed infrastructure, enhanced historic features and other upgrades to the National Historic Landmark building.

The building was designed in 1859 by the distinguished architect James Renwick Jr., who also designed the Smithsonian’s “Castle” and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Renwick was inspired by the Louvre’s Tuileries addition in Paris and modeled the gallery in the French Second Empire style that was popular at the time. The words “Dedicated to Art” are inscribed above the Renwick Gallery’s front entry. The collection, exhibition program and publications presented by the Renwick Gallery highlight the best craft objects and decorative arts from the 19th century to the present and honor the building’s original purpose.

The Renwick was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and in 1971 it was designated a National Historic Landmark building in the Lafayette Square Historic District. The Renwick Gallery is located on Pennsylvania Avenue, just steps from the White House in the heart of historic federal Washington.