Museum of Contemporary Art MOCA

The new Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Cleveland comes from the architects at Farshid Moussavi Architects. The architects designed an elegant prism to house the museum’s collection in a new space that will maximize the 34,000 square foot structure. Zahner was brought on to provide complete facade services for the project, including design assist, engineering, fabrication, and installation of the building envelope & facade of glass and metal.

The design is deceptive in its complexity, appearing at first to be a hexagonal shape. When viewed from above, it becomes clear that the core of the structure is actually 92′ by 92′ cube. This addresses and resolves the common criticism that many of the newer museums with dynamic forms often face — that the space is not actually conducive for the display and viewing of art. This well-thought out museum brings the best of both worlds, with its visually striking design and ample space to display art.

The building’s hexagonal base gives the museum multiple entries, while the building’s square top lends itself to the museum’s rotating collection, allowing the space to be easily divided into flexible temporary spaces. Because the museum has no permanent collection of its own, it was important that the building’s interior lend itself to many different kinds of work.