Magazzino Italian Art announces that the Robert Olnick Pavilion—the second building on the museum’s campus—will open on September 14, 2023. The pavilion was designed by the renowned Spanish architects Alberto Campo Baeza and Miguel Quismondo. This building will provide an additional 13,000 square feet of exhibition space, a multipurpose room with auditorium capabilities, a combined café and store on the mezzanine, and a gallery devoted to Italian decorative arts, Murano glass, ceramics, and jewelry. This expansion marks a milestone for Magazzino, allowing the museum to host more temporary exhibitions, expand educational initiatives for younger visitors, and continue to offer a wide range of indoor and outdoor events across both spaces on the Cold Spring campus.
The pavilion has a humble layout that highlights industrial materials such as concrete to facilitate a conceptually strong and aesthetically neutral environment to compliment the postwar and contemporary Italian art and design it will exhibit. The building includes Gallery 2—the isotropic room—designed by Alberto Campo Baeza as a perfect cube, perforated with square windows at each corner. This dynamic approach to architecture facilitates a constantly evolving stream of light, capturing time like a sundial as the windows cast shadows at rotating angles.
“We built the Robert Olnick Pavilion like a poem: a white cube traversed by light. The main space will embody the beauty of the artwork it exhibits, and with an isotropic design that carves an opening into every corner, each detail will be touched by magnificent sunlight. Not unlike the excitement of birth, it is with great anticipation that we deliver this second building to the museum.”
–Alberto Campo Baeza
“It’s been a dream to collaborate with Alberto Campo Baeza on the Robert Olnick Pavilion. It feels as though we’re closing a cycle that started 20 years ago, when Alberto first recruited me to participate in the development of the Olnick Spanu House and introduced me to Nancy and Giorgio. What an amazing experience to have contributed to the birth of such a singular institution and to design and construct such iconic buildings.”
–Miguel Quismondo
For the opening of the pavilion, Magazzino Italian Art will present inaugural exhibitions on Mario Schifano and Carlo Scarpa and a special project on Ettore Spalletti. Mario Schifano: The Rise of the ‘60s will be curated by Alberto Salvadori and presented in partnership with the Archivio Mario Schifano, Rome. The 80 works on view will offer a comprehensive survey of Schifano’s work from 1960 to 1970. Carlo Scarpa: Timeless Masterpieces will be curated by Marino Barovier and feature a selection of Murano glass designed by the Venetian architect from 1926 to 1942. The Ettore Spalletti project–titled Ettore Spalletti. Parole di colore–was conceived by Fondazione Ettore Spalletti and Alberto Salvadori in collaboration with the architect Alberto Campo Baeza. This will be a presentation of large-scale artworks designed to activate and frame the surrounding architecture and natural light. Expanding public programs into the new space, the museum will host three study days at the pavilion dedicated to Mario Schifano, Carlo Scarpa, and Ettore Spalletti.
The Robert Olnick Pavilion will also debut Café Silvia, with indoor and outdoor seating, serving Italian cuisine by Milanese chef Luca Galli. The café will feature both local and international products and produce, highlighting the importance of both the surrounding Hudson Valley and Italy. The café will share the space with The Store which will offer relevant publications—including those published by the museum—design objects, artist prints, Murano glass, Sardinian ceramics, and artist-designed jewelry.
“The Robert Olnick Pavilion is dedicated to my father, who instilled in me the value of philanthropy as well as giving back to one’s community. It is my and Giorgio’s great privilege to honor my father’s legacy by creating this new building, which will offer an expanded space for unique exhibitions and programs on Italian art, design, and culture. Through Magazzino, we sought to share our passion and enthusiasm for Italian art with our beloved Hudson Valley community, and look forward to welcoming the public to the new pavilion in September.”
–Nancy Olnick & Giorgio Spanu
About Alberto Campo Baeza
Alberto Campo Baeza is an Emeritus Head Professor of Design in the Madrid School of Architecture, ETSAM, where he has been a tenured Professor for more than 35 years. He has taught at the ETH in Zurich and the EPFL in Lausanne, as well as the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Kansas State University, CUA University in Washington and L’Ecole d’Architecture in Tournai, Belgium. More recently, he has been named the Clarkson Chair of Architecture by Buffalo University and Walton Critic Speaker at the School of Architecture and Planning of CUA, the Catholic University of America in Washington. From 2018-2019 he was a visiting professor at the School of Architecture of Barcelona, ETSAB. From 2017 to 2020 he was Emeritus Head Professor of Design. In 2021 he taught as Visiting Professor at the New York Institute of Technology and won the National Prize for Architecture.
About Miguel Quismondo
Miguel Quismondo is an architect based in New York. Born in Spain, he graduated from the Polytechnic school in Madrid, and began his career in Miami at Perkins+Will and went on to collaborate with the award-winning architect Alberto Campo Baeza in the design and construction of the Olnick Spanu House. He completed his studies with a Master’s degree in Real Estate Development from Columbia University, and another in Construction Management from NYU. Over the past decade, he has worked for Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu in several fields spanning from design, construction and management. Additionally, he has worked with many international artists to help them implement and install site-specific projects. In 2012 he founded MQ Architecture and started working on Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Spring, NY. His designs have been published in la Biennale di Venezia, Architectural Record, A+U, Domus and Casabella.
