Creating a Museum for All

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art International Design Competition: Creating a Museum for All

• US, international, emerging and established firms invited to participate
• A public exhibition of finalist design concepts will be held in spring 2025
• New addition(s) will create extra gallery, programming and visitor spaces and refresh and activate
specific indoor and outdoor spaces
• No design required at the first stage − architect-led multidisciplinary teams asked to submit details
of project approach, team composition, and experience
• Up to five finalist teams to receive US$75,000 competition fee for concept designs
• Deadline for first stage responses is Tuesday, October 29, 2024

https://competitions.malcolmreading.com/nelson-atkins

One of America’s finest art museums, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art cares for a superlative collection of more than 42,000 art objects. It is best known for its extensive Asian art, European and American paintings, photography, modern sculpture, Native American, African and Egyptian galleries. It is surrounded by a 22-acre sculpture park.

Offering free admission, the museum, based in Kansas City, Missouri, is nationally and internationally acclaimed and serves a broad region within a 300-mile radius. Rarely is a museum gifted with two architectural icons. The original Beaux Arts building is a traditional museum in neoclassical revival style, while the second, the much-admired and innovative Bloch Building, was a luminous addition by US
architect Steven Holl in 2007 following an invited design competition.

Now the museum is embarking on a third evolution in response to the increasing needs of our community, growing and increasingly diverse attendance, and desire to serve future generations. The capital campaign to fund this initiative will be the single biggest investment in the arts in Kansas City in recent years and will
contribute to the city’s future dynamism and vitality.

Strategically, the museum’s Board of Trustees is intent on expanding the conventions of the museum, so it becomes a more dynamic, open, and inviting place; a place where everyone feels they belong. The project will integrate the campus, the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park, and the two existing buildings into
a cohesive new experience.