A museum of living architecture: Continuity and contradiction at the Des Moines Art Center

This paper explores the design and construction of the Des Moines Art Center, revealing a set of distinct approaches to both architectural design and the preservation and extension of existing though not yet historic work. Three architects, Eliel Saarinen, I.M. Pei, and Richard Meier, designed the center in three separate phases. Each of these projects had to take the existing fabric of landscape and building into account, and each adopted startlingly distinctive methods for both preserving and extending the work of their predecessors. The resulting museum, seen as a place for experiencing and making art, and as a record of architectural strategies, forms a unique opportunity for investigation of and reflection upon attitudes toward renovation, preservation, extension, and alteration of recently completed work.