The Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art International Design Competition was an open search for an architect-led multidisciplinary team to revitalize one of North America’s leading art museums. The first stage of this two-stage competition was an open call for submissions that garnered 154 entries from around the world. Michael Maltzan Architecture was one of six offices shortlisted to progress to the second stage.

MMA’s stage two concept design is grounded in a deep understanding of the mission and future ambitions of the DMA and the constraints and challenges of the existing building. At the core of our proposal is the belief that the architecture and landscape of the reimagined DMA can weave together the history and the future of both the Museum and Dallas. A series of strategic alterations and additions carefully reshape parts of the existing museum and full city block site to allow the DMA to fulfill its goal of becoming more accessible, transparent, equitable, and sustainable and to be a “space of wonder and discovery where art comes alive.”

Our response preserves the philosophical aspirations of the original Edward Larrabee Barnes design, and modifies it to support the DMA’s evolving requirements. Barnes’s stepped gallery sequence is woven together with a new “superfloor” of gallery and program spaces that float above the treetops of the Arts District. The elevation of the galleries remakes North Harwood Street into a “cultural carpet,” an animated civic landscape that bridges Klyde Warren Park and Downtown. The original inward-looking concourse is transformed into a new transparent façade that reveals the vibrant activity of the DMA. Collectively, these changes create a new image of the DMA, one that is open, forward-looking, and reflective of the Museum’s role in the coming century.

The competition team includes Studio Zewde (landscape architect); Guy Nordenson and Associates (structural design engineer); Buro Happold (MEP engineer); Atelier Ten (sustainability); Joel Sanders Architect / MIXdesign (exhibition design and accessibility); and Michael Maltzan Architecture (design architect).