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Design Doubles Public and Gallery Spaces Expands Asia
Society's Role in the Arts, Education, and Policy and
Business Issues |
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 To
meet the increasing demand for greater awareness and understanding
of Asia and its dynamic relatinoship with American, the
Asia Society is extensively renovating and expanding its
world headquarters in New York City. The $30 million initiative
will substantially enhance the Asia Society's museum galleries,
as well as its public facilities and programs, and strengthen
the Society's role as the only institution in North America
addressing the intersection of the arts, economics, politics,
and society throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The project
builds on the Society's more than forty-year record of
leadership as a forum for cross-cultural exchange between
artists, educators, performers, government officials,
Asian American community leaders, business executives,
students and the public on both sides of the Pacific.
The renovation, to be completed in fall 2001, will re-configure
the interior spaces of the Asia Society's existing red
granite building at 725 Park Avenue. While the project
is underway, the Society has relocated to interim "Asia
Society at Midtown" where it continues to present exhibitions
and events and where the Asia Society store is in full
operation.
 "The
next century will be a global one, with the nations of
Asia playing an increasingly prominent role in world affairs,"
siad Nicholas Platt, President of the Asia Society. "It
has never been more important for Americans to understand
Asia than in the face of this changing world. And never
has the Asia Society's mission to assemble an extraordinary
community of policy makers, scholars, world leadrs, and
the media to assess fast-developing trends in Asia been
more urgent. Enhancing our headquarters will enable the
Asia Society to provide a richer and more satisfying experience
for our visitors and foster more informed public opinion.
At the same time, the new facilities will probide the
tools for the Society to continue to match pace with the
technology and information revolutions that are transforming
the relationship between the U.S. and Asia," he concluded.
Renovation and Expansion The new design will double
the interior public and exhibition spaces at the Asia
Society's 725 Park Avenue headquarters, which house the
Society's museum galleries, permanent collection, auditorium,
conference facitlities, store, and offices. The creation
of new public and exhibition spaces on the Society's second
and third floors, as well as the upgrading of existing
conference and performance facilities, will provide a
greater opportunity to present the different voices and
perspectives of Asians and Asian-Americans.
 A
redesigned entrance lobby on Park Avenue and new first
floor Visitor Center will create a gracious public space
to welcome visitors. A new glass-enclosed, sky-lit Garden
Court with sculpture, plantings, and a café on
the first floor will further enhance the visitor's experience.
The Garden Court will also serve as a venue for intimate
performances, readings, discussions with artists, and
other special events.
New exhibition spaces will allow masterworks from the
Society's exceptional Rockefeller Collection of Asian
Art to be displayed at all times. This permanent collection
includes unparalleled artworks from South Southeast, and
East Asia - including bronzes, paintings, ceramics, and
sculpture - dating from 2000 B.C.E. to the 19th century.
As part of the renovation, the Society is initiating a
complete upgrade and enhancement of all its technological
resources. A new, flexible communications technology infrastructure
will enable the Society to broaden its reach, coordinate
programs in multiple Society locations worldwide, and
instantly link audiences and individuals around the globe.
Each of the Society's conference spaces will have the
latest video conferencing equiptment and the auditorium
will be upgraded to include distance-learning capabilities.
Interactive computer terminals in the new Vistor Center
and a new Asian Arts Learning Center will provide in-depth
information on Asia Society exhibitions and programs as
well as links to resources on Asian art from around the
world.
The Asia Society will also enhance and enlarge its store,
creating special areas for readings and events. In addition,
the store's offerings will expand to include a diverse
collection of design and craft items to complement its
renowned book selection. A changing series of cultural
and thematic sections will be added, each featuring pieces
in a particular medium or from a selected geographic location.
 Architecture
and Design
The Asia Society has commissioned noted New York architect
Bartholomew Voorsanger for the project. Recent projects
by Voorsanger & Associates Architects, PC include: The
Pierpont Morgan Library Garden Court and Master Plan (1992);
the New York University Center for Advanced Digital Studies
(1996); The New York Univeristy/Graduate Business Library
renovation (1985); the American Insitute of Architects
New York Chapter (1984); The Wethersfield Carriage Museum
(1996); and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum Storage
(1995). The design will significantly reconfigure the
interior of the Asia Society's headquarters at 725 Park
Avenue. Designed in 1980 by Edward Larrabee Barnes, and
will add approximately 5,000 square feet to the building
in the form of an expanded roof top enclosure over the
Garden Court, an extended service alley, and a new mechanical
support area.
Exhibitions and Arts Programming
In addition to organizing acclaimed exhibitions that reflect
the traditional cultures of the more than thirty countries
throughout the Asia-Pacific region, the Society has become
the established leader in presenting contemporary work
by Asian and Asian American artists. New exhibition galleries
will enable the Society to expand its entire exhibition
program, commissioning pieces from contemporary artists
and showing an even greater range of traditional and ancient
works. "The flexibility and range of the new exhibition
galleries allow us creative opportunities that simply
haven't been possible previously. Not only will the Society
be bale to present exhibitions at all times throughout
the year, which is not feasible with the current configuration
of the galleries, but new spaces allow us to combine intimate
exhibitions of truly exceptional works with comprehensive
exhibitions of great intellectual depth and aesthetic
reach. In the same way, upgrading our performance spaces
and adding new programming venues will provide an even
greater ability to present cultural and arts programs
that both recognize and cut across national boundaries
and identities," said Vishakha N. Desai, Senior Vice Presideng
of the Society and Director of Galleries and Cultural
Programs.
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