In a tradition traced back to the ancient Scandinavian religious rite of placing a tree atop a new building to appease the tree-dwelling spirits displaced in its construction, the Storm King Art Center held a topping out ceremony last week to raise the last steel beam for its new conservation, fabrication, and maintenance building.
On Dec. 20, local, state, and art center officials joined contractors for a brief ceremony which saw construction crew members, art center board members, and other dignitaries sign the final beam, which had a small pine tree on one end and the American Flag on the other. The final beam was then hooked up to a crane and hoisted in the area where two contractors were ready to welcome the steel girder and fasten it into place.
The beam will be visible from the interior of the structure, but the signatures will likely be too small to see from afar.
The ceremony marked the completion of at least the skeleton of the new David R. Collens Building for Conservation, Fabrication, and Maintenance. The building, named in honor of SKAC’s former director and chief curator, will serve as a workshop, studio, mechanical shop, storage space, and office. It will also expand the art center’s ability to realize extraordinary projects and its support of artists’ visions on a grand scale. Finally, the building will be a home for creating and fabricating new work, particularly for exhibitions and the annual “Outlooks” program.
Located on the southern edge of Storm King, the building will fit seamlessly within the landscape. Parking lots within the grounds will be repurposed into landscapes for art. New meadowed areas in the north and south will naturally extend the existing space for art while providing a platform for exhibitions, temporary installations, and public programming, as well as reveal additional sight lines of Storm King’s forested edge.
Besides improving the experience for guests, the project aims to continue Storm King’s legacy of landscape stewardship and environmental sustainability. Buildings will be designed to use clean, all-electric renewable energy, and the landscape will be enriched with more than 650 newly planted trees to offer shade for visitors and promote biodiversity.
Five years ago, the art center began the design work on a $45 million capital improvement project which aims to enhance and sustain the experience of art and nature it offers to visitors, artists, and the community. The project is expected to be completed in 2024.
