Open House and an Interview with the Architects
- Joan McCall
- Apr 2
- 7 min read
by Nelda Stuck
The Museum Board of directors invited the public to an Open House Sunday, February 2, from 3-5 p.m. to see the pristine building before the exhibits being designed over the past 18 months by the A.K. Smiley Public Library Heritage Room are installed. Over 1,000 people came to tour the uniquely designed building and grounds.
JohnsonFavaro Architects of Culver City, were selected to design our Museum of Redlands.
Now that construction is complete, and the buildings have seen residents visit at the open houses, here are some experiences and comments architect Jim Favaro provided from interview questions about what the museum will mean for Redlands.
"We had advocated years ago when the community was contemplating this institution, that it be conceived to be able to continually tell the story of not only Redlands, but also Southern California, the Southwest and the United States," Favaro said.
Favaro and Steve Johnson researched Redlands history prior to presenting their competitive design. Favaro recalls, "Every generation has an obligation to build on past contributions through its own contribution in its own way, and to do so…being true to its time. Respect for the history and traditions of Redlands is crucial in realizing a believable contemporary contribution to that history.
"We discussed with the museum and library leadership the idea of generational contribution to the social and cultural infrastructure of the city, that in the past this manifested, for example, in the building of the AK Smiley Library and the Redlands Bowl (not to mention the University and other projects from the past)."
Favaro continued, "Almost all of our work resides in the public sector and almost entirely for communities across Southern California, each of which is unique demographically, socio-economically and geographically. It is always our obligation in service to the communities we work with to take the time to come to know them -- in order to create places that truly and authentically reflect them."
Favaro said that in creating a workable museum, they relied on their experiences in design and construction of arts buildings, libraries and city archives. They also worked with museum planning consultant Tom Hartman of IQ Magic of Santa Monica on fundamental attributes required of a museum design that could be "legitimately certified and self-sustaining."
The origami design of the exterior of the gallery facing Brookside Avenue has been a topic of discussion from day one.
"The idea to present the gallery as a kind of gift box whose flaps opened to reveal its contents, meant adopting a vocabulary of folds that in some ways resembles origami but hopefully in not a literal way," Favaro explained.
"This aspect of the building's design emerged from a practical imperative," he said. "Museums can come off as domineering fortresses, entirely inward looking, while we had suggested that by creating some gallery space that was viable from the street (in this case Brookside as a major cross-town arterial), it would create a more interactive and literally transparent relationship with the community.
"The Brookside Gallery will act as a kind of three-dimensional advertisement through display of some of the contents of exhibits within the interior gallery spaces, telegraphing what's contained within the building in a way that will draw visitors to the museum campus.
"That the gallery and its large expanse of glass faces south presented a challenge from which emerged the necessity of a very large and deep overhang, the shaping of which became a prominent part of the building's design."
Asked about the south and west second-story white façade of large oranges surrounding the added storage area of the museum, Favaro said, "The large-scale 'stamped' pattern on the exterior of the second floor archive storage facility was as simple a way we could think of to invest what would have been vast blank surfaces with visual interest. The idea of the orange fruit and leaves emerged from conversations with library/museum leadership interest in conveying a relationship to the agricultural past of the city."
Asked about the challenges in renovating the existing Daily Facts building, he said, "It was important to us that the original building 'read through' the new one, that the campus was seen as a kind of palimpsest that reflected and telegraphed the history of the site.
"In many places one can still see the original masonry walls, the original floors and roof
structure, even areas of perimeter walls where windows were filled in.
"The interplay between highly finished and decorated surfaces with the historical, mostly unfinished elements of the existing building was a key aesthetic goal in crafting especially the character of the interiors of the building."
Adding to the construction expense has been design features required for certified museums, including heating and cooling basics.
"Without proper climate controls, the museum cannot accept materials or exhibits from other museums," Favaro said. "Carefully calibrated temperature and humidity controls are highly technical in nature, sensitive to minute fluctuations in the weather, expensive to install and crucial to maintaining."
Asked about the essentials J-F wanted for the building to suit the needs of the museum, Favaro said, "A variety of kinds of gallery spaces is crucial for the flexibility and viability of the museum. Some galleries are daylit, others artificially lit, some of great scale, others more intimate in scale. This affords the museum a wide range of options for how to display and coordinate displays of varying kinds, sizes and vulnerabilities to exposure."
Speaking about special challenges in designing the building, Favaro noted there is nearly always unknowns to deal with. "The structural integrity of the building was a good starting point," he said, "but had to be upgraded as did virtually all of the systems in the building. Delivering climate controlled environments with the gallery spaces is crucial for the museum's certification and ability to accept traveling exhibits. This requires quite a bit of mechanical, electrical and plumbing infrastructure, none of which was present in the existing building which, of course, in its origin served an entirely different purpose.
"Nevertheless, in keeping the existing building, a high quality, highly functioning, certifiable museum was delivered at about half the cost of an entirely new building."
JohnsonFavaro from the beginning advocated for the addition of the Pavilion for use as meeting space and for fundraising.
"The pavilion is crucial to the viability of the museum," Favaro said. "The pavilion and garden will be used for events such as exhibit openings, and other museum-related occasions, but also can be used for events not associated with the museum including private events for which the museum will be able to charge fees.
"The ability to convene school groups, community events, board meetings, donor meetings and special occasions will be the most effective way to keep the museum top of mind across the community, not to mention enhance its fundraising efforts (which will be on-going for the life of the institution).
The Museum Store was also a top priority in the design. The firm designed it as "a building within a building and hopefully an attraction itself that will draw in this case customers interested in purchasing something memorable from an exhibit or the museum or Redlands in general."
He said that the store's design relates to the Brookside Gallery in that it adopts the same language of flaps and folds. It is configured and positioned so that it is one of the first things you see when entering the building and the last when exiting and is easily surveilled by the reception desk."
The appropriate landscaping was vital to the project. "Every aspect of the site has been designed to contribute to the overall quality of the museum experience," Favaro said.
"The arrival court off of Center Street will function as community event space, drop-off and pick-up for community and museum events, overflow parking, and any number of other uses which will emerge once the museum has settled in and lived with the facility, at which point we are confident it will come up with all sorts of novel ways to program this space.
"The events lawn on the opposite side of the building is crucial to expand the functionality of the cause, its ability to accept large numbers of people and as a place in which to simply be -- a kind of pastoral refuge in the heart of the city, a place to take a breather from whatever is happening inside the building.
"The events pavilion and lawn are both served by a drive along the west flank of the property where vehicles can serve the events, even where food trucks might park to enhance the experience of events there.
"The import of the oak trees and other indigenous trees and vegetation onto the site was a key strategic move to anchor the campus within the large natural setting of the Redlands local region."
Asked if there are any aspects of the building he considered unique - not existing anywhere else, Favaro said, "There are many. They include the exterior large scale orange fruit and leaf pattern, the gold brocade on the 'back' side of the central gallery barrel vault, the freestanding museum store, the rows of orange trees that flank the events lawn. All of these features emerged from our conversations with the library/museum leadership." He added that the "back of house facilities of the museum are world class." He praised the second floor high-density archival storage facility as serving the city for generations to come; the large collections in-take and processing facilities; and the exhibit preparation workshop as a huge asset for a fully functioning regional museum of this kind.
"Even the administrative work space that is visible from the gallery spaces is unique in its relationship with the public spaces of the museum -- a way to invite volunteers and docents into the life of the museum over the life of the museum."
The Museum of Redlands from its inception in 2000 was intended to be gifted to the City of Redlands to house 125 years of the library's collection of historical objects. On Dec. 15, the City Council voted 5-0 approval of a four-month lease of the building to allow time to conclude the final legal work necessary for the gifting the building to the city, while permitting the Library Heritage Room staff to install opening exhibits.
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