Full steam ahead: Frank Gehry on board to design Massachusetts model railway museum
Architect Frank Gehry has been commissioned to develop the design for a model railway museum in Massachusetts, which will feature miniature work from a host of the world’s leading designers.
According to The Boston Globe newspaper, Gehry visited the city of North Adams last week to visit the site earmarked for the 83,000sq ft (7,700sq m) Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum.
Architecture practice Gluckman Tang had been developing a design for the project, but it appears they have now been replaced by Gehry. The Canadian-American has previously collaborated with the museum’s chief backer Thomas Krens – the former director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation – including on the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.
According to reports, the proposed US$65m (€54.6m, £50.1m) museum will feature 110 continuously operating model trains, travelling past mini models designed by some of the world’s leading architects.
“It has spectacular potential,” Gehry told the Globe. “I don’t know of anything quite like what Krens has in mind.”
Krens added: “There is no real architecture museum anywhere in the world. People like miniaturisation, and they are drawn to motion.”
He claimed the bulk of the funding would come from private investors, and that 500,000 to 700,000 annual visitors would pass through the museum’s doors.
The museum would be a high-profile addition to a wider cultural corridor in and around the city's Western Gateway Heritage State Park. According to the Globe, Krens has brought French architect Jean Nouvel on board to design a luxury hotel, a museum devoted to American art, and a museum devoted to motorcycles, while Gehry will renovate the city’s Mohawk Theater and design a pedestrian bridge.
It also says that architect Richard Gluckman has signed on to design the Massachusetts Museum of Time, which will be devoted to industrial clocks.
Gehry has a number of museum projects the pipeline. He has masterplanned the transformation of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s main building; designed a museum celebrating French art, aesthetics and urbanity in Paris for luxury goods billionaire Bernard Arnault; and is reuniting with Krens on the delayed Guggenheim branch in Abu Dhabi.
Frank Gehry Thomas Krens Massachusetts North Adams Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum designTwisting Frank Gehry tower housing contemporary art centre takes shape in Arles
Gehry, Piano, Foster and Levete among star-studded shortlist for landmark City of London concert hall
Life for Abu Dhabi's Guggenheim as contractors invited to renew tender bids
Philadelphia Museum of Art kickstarts major Frank Gehry expansion and revamp
Frank Gehry and billionaire businessman Bernard Arnault collaborate for new Paris museum
Frank Gehry completes intimate 360 degree concert hall in Berlin
Want to learn architecture from Frank Gehry? Design icon launches US$90 online course
Frank Gehry's mixed-use Sunset Strip scheme approved by city planners
GoCo Health Innovation City in Sweden plans to lead the world in delivering wellness and new science
Aman sister brand Janu debuts in Tokyo with four-floor urban wellness retreat
€38m geothermal spa and leisure centre to revitalise Croatian city of Bjelovar
Two Santani eco-friendly wellness resorts coming to Oman, partnered with Omran Group
Kerzner shows confidence in its Siro wellness hotel concept, revealing plans to open 100
Ritz-Carlton, Portland unveils skyline spa inspired by unfolding petals of a rose
Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners are just one of the names behind The Emory hotel London and Surrenne private members club
Peninsula Hot Springs unveils AUS$11.7m sister site in Australian outback
IWBI creates WELL for residential programme to inspire healthy living environments
Conrad Orlando unveils water-inspired spa oasis amid billion-dollar Evermore Resort complex
Studio A+ realises striking urban hot springs retreat in China's Shanxi Province
Populous reveals plans for major e-sports arena in Saudi Arabia
Wake The Tiger launches new 1,000sq m expansion
Othership CEO envisions its urban bathhouses in every city in North America
Merlin teams up with Hasbro and Lego to create Peppa Pig experiences
SHA Wellness unveils highly-anticipated Mexico outpost
One&Only One Za’abeel opens in Dubai featuring striking design by Nikken Sekkei
Luxury spa hotel, Calcot Manor, creates new Grain Store health club
'World's largest' indoor ski centre by 10 Design slated to open in 2025
Murrayshall Country Estate awarded planning permission for multi-million-pound spa and leisure centre
Aman's Janu hotel by Pelli Clarke & Partners will have 4,000sq m of wellness space
Therme Group confirms Incheon Golden Harbor location for South Korean wellbeing resort
Universal Studios eyes the UK for first European resort
King of Bhutan unveils masterplan for Mindfulness City, designed by BIG, Arup and Cistri
Rural locations are the next frontier for expansion for the health club sector
Tonik Associates designs new suburban model for high-end Third Space health and wellness club
Aman sister brand Janu launching in Tokyo in 2024 with design by Denniston's Jean-Michel Gathy
The Peninsula London unveils Peter Marino-designed spa inspired by London’s famous parks
First glimpses revealed of Mandarin Oriental, Mayfair's subterranean spa retreat
"Architecture is alive" says Ma Yansong, as Shenzhen art museum opens exhibition showcasing work of MAD Architects
Three years after Pegasus Capital bought Six Senses, how close is the private equity firm to realising its goals for its first spa and hospitality investment? Pegasus’ founder Craig Cogut tells us what’s been achieved and what comes next