MIM’s architectural elements incorporate subtle musical details
MIM’s distinct architecture incorporates musical influences and references to the museum’s global mission and desert home in Phoenix. Together, these design elements immerse guests in a uniquely harmonious environment.
“Architects, like musicians and composers, use tools to create an inspirational, emotional, or reflective experience,” says Rich Varda, the architect who designed the museum. “Those tools are materials, textures, pattern, form, mass, space, and light. Architects can enclose you and guide your journey. They can frame vistas, invite touch, and enclose space with forms and textures that enrich sound and music.”
Some elements of MIM’s design evoke the rhythmic flow of a musical composition, inviting guests to explore the music of the world in the museum’s galleries. Raised shapes in the stonework on the exterior of the MIM Music Theater subtly suggest patterns of notes on a sheet of music. Variable spacing between the vertical pickets of the second-floor handrail imply a flowing rhythmic pattern. The vertical windows in El Río, MIM’s central hall, are grouped to resemble piano keys. And the elegant sweep of the circular rotunda staircase recalls the curved edge of a grand piano.
Other aspects of the building’s design honor MIM’s home in the Sonoran Desert and support the museum’s mission to foster appreciation for the cultures of the world. The entrance courtyard and Jill Dahlin Courtyard are serene and welcoming oases of desert plants and running water that reflect the character of an Arizona canyon. The sandstone walls and gentle curve of El Río echo the colors and forms of the landscape outside. The inlaid world map on the floor of the rotunda is made using stones from the various regions of the world they represent. In MIM’s main courtyard, the rotating bronze sculpture Phoenix, made by Belgian artist Louis Halleux, is inspired by instrument shapes and blends MIM’s musical, environmental, and international influences.
More than 15 years after the museum opened and after more than 4 million people have walked through its doors, Varda is pleased that his team’s carefully considered work helps harmonize the guest experience.
“I think the design team is most proud of the fact that the spaces of the building are comfortable, friendly, and supportive of the desired immersive experience in the galleries,” he says. “Moving through the building is intuitive and relaxing. The average length of stay is almost four hours, supporting the fact that people are comfortable and fully engaged.”
