Terra Museum Renovation

Daniel Terra, then Ambassador-at-Large for Cultural Affairs for the United States, was seeking to relocate his Evanston Museum to Chicago’s famous Michigan Avenue.

The selected building at 670 North Michigan Avenue was typical of a standard office structure restricted to minimum ceiling heights. Additionally, the building was located immediately adjacent to the public sidewalk.

David Zeunert & Associates incorporated a centered recess into the street façade to provide the museum nobility to its entrance, as well as to provide a comfortable transition from Chicago’s frequently inclement weather.

The interior foyer was accented by a grand staircase and interior atrium that provided vertical spaciousness from the limited ceiling heights and established an interior orientation focus for the gallery areas.

Further effects of spaciousness were achieved by designating one of the levels as a two-story space by removing an intermediate floors and extending the columns and beams through this space, creating implied rooms without walls to compliment large-scale sculpture works.

The building's existing French mansard roof geometry at the penthouse level was selected for the lecture rooms. This location provided acoustical benefits in avoidance of rectangular shapes, which are problematic for acoustics.

	Exterior sketch
	First level floor plan
	Second level floor plan
	East-west section
	North-south section

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