Milwaukee Art Museum Announces Exhibition to Celebrate 10th Anniversary of Calatrava's Awe-Inspiring Quadracci Pavilion

Almost 10 years ago, Santiago Calatrava debuted his famous Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwakee Art Museum. The design for the amazing shaded pavilion and sun screen was conceived back in 1994 and at the time of construction was considered unprecedented. Calatrava’s design was considered challenging and required a significant amount of custom work. As part of the 10th Anniversary, the museum will honor Calatrava and his design for the museum with a special exhibition starting in September 2011.

Calatrava drew inspiration from Lake Michigan, sailboats and soaring birds to create his masterpiece, which was built next to the existing Kahler building and connects to Wisconsin Avenue via a cable-stay footbridge. The white steel and concrete building is reminiscent of a large ship about to set sail on the water and adds 13,200 square meters to the existing 14,900 square meters of exhibition space.

The museum’s most notable feature is its soaring wing-like sun screen set atop the reception hall. Constructed out of steel, 36 fins form the Burke Brise Soleil, which has a wingspan of 217 feet and opens and closes twice a day. During the day, the screen opens up to shade the glass entrance hall from the sun and at night, the screen closes down like a bird folding his wings to sleep. The wingspan is comparable to that of a Boeing 747-400; it has two ultrasonic wind sensors that automatically close the wings if the wind speed reaches 23 mph or greater.