Tallahassee Architectural Firm Designs New Edition to The Ringling

Local architectural design firm, Lewis +Whitlock, have designed the newest edition to The Ringling Art Museum. This newest 5,500 square-foot edition, the Kotler-Coville  Glass Pavilion, is expected to be completed by 2017. Longtime Ringling Museum and Florida State University patrons, Philip and Nancy Kotler and Warren and Margot Coville, have come together to provide a majority of the support for the estimated $5 million project. The Kotlers and Covilles have a mutual appreciation for studio art glass. The Kotler-Coville Pavilion will function as the main entrance to the museum and also as a new home to The Ringling’s collection of European and American studio glass art.

M. Hays Layerd, creative director of Lewis + Whitlock and lead design architect for this project, has made heavy use of glass in the pavilion’s design, allowing visitors to view the studio glass art from the outside.

“As the principal ingredient in the making of glass, the building’s façade is inspired by the movement of water and air over sand,” Layerd said, explaining the design concept. “The exterior metallic fins are positioned at angles that will block direct, harsh sun rays, that are not conducive to viewing glass art, but still allow soft northern indirect sunlight into the gallery space.

The Ringling hopes that the new pavilion will help reintroduce museum visitors to the importance and beauty of the studio glass art movement.