Museum of Object Art

The Museum of Object Art (MOA) is situated on a site in downtown Denver that sits adjacent to Cherry Creek, which is lined with pedestrian and bicycle pathways. This enables the location to receive a variety of visitors, as vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists circulate the site as passersby.

The MOA acts as a connection between the two city streets, Wynkoop and Wazee. As Wynkoop is a dead end for vehicular traffic, it lends itself well to a main entryway into the museum. The main approach occurs instinctively from all sides — the Creek, walkways and sidewalks — and the museum’s protruding over the street invites visitors in.

Along the procession throughout the museum, the visitor experiences a succession of moments that are guided by a series of lighting qualities and materiality. These spaces have similar qualities that tie these experiences together.

The main gallery (MOA Box) becomes the central communal/exhibition space, and the specified circulation denies instantaneous arrival, although the translucency of the box emits a diffuse light quality that makes the box the primary space to visit.

The three main spatial moments become distinctive entities as materiality and textures are used in order to connect these experiences together. A variation of concrete for the exterior, Venetian plaster for interior galleries, a translucent material for the central gallery, and wood for other places of gathering become characteristic of interior and exterior spaces.