The Petersen Automotive Museum has been honoured by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design as one of the most significant building projects in America owing to its radical exterior design by architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox. The American Architecture Award will be presented at a gala ceremony held at the Orlando Museum of Art.
The Petersen’s renovation was unique among museum projects in that it was a retrofit, rather than a complete knock down or new building. Gene Kohn and Trent Tesch of Kohn Pedersen Fox worked together to take what had been a gray concrete box originally designed as a mid-century department store and transform it into a striking organic shape, serving as a visual anchor of the Miracle Mile neighborhood utilising a façade of flowing stainless steel ribbons over a corrugated red shell.
“To even be considered for such an award is an honor,” said Terry Karges, executive director, Petersen Automotive Museum. “Coincidentally, this award was created in 1994 – the same year Robert E. Petersen founded our museum in a repurposed department store. His vision was a powerful one, but it was not until our board of directors – lead by Peter Mullin, David Sydorick and Bruce Meyer – tapped Gene Kohn and his team that we were able to fully realize Petersen’s dream to build a museum in the heart of Los Angeles that serves as an intersection of cars and art, engineering and design.
(Source: www.aimag.com)
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