架构师提供的文本描述。一座城市最重要的建筑项目是那些引人注目的建筑，比如西班牙毕尔巴鄂的弗兰克·盖里(Frank Gehry)的古根海姆博物馆(Guggenheim Museum)，以及丹尼尔·利贝斯金德(Daniel Libeskin)对丹佛艺术博物馆的扩建。但25年前，当伦佐·皮亚诺在美国首次登台登场时，结果远非壮观，而是对已经确立的社区规模的补充。

Text description provided by the architects. Most important Architectural additions to a city are those of spectacle, meant to stand out and grab attention, such as Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, or Daniel Libeskind’s extension to the Denver Art Museum. But when Renzo Piano made his American debut with the Menil Collection 25 years ago, the result was far from spectacle, but rather more supplementary to an already established neighborhood scale.

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos

梅尼尔收藏于1986年在德克萨斯州休斯顿开幕。斯伦贝谢石油公司财富的继承人多米尼克·德梅尼尔(Dominique De Menil)和她的丈夫约翰·德梅尼尔(John De Menil)从20世纪70年代开始成为休斯顿艺术界的一对权力夫妇。

The Menil Collection opened in 1986 in Houston, TX. Dominique de Menil, heiress to the Schlumberger oil company fortune, and her husband, John de Menil, became a power couple in the Houston art scene beginning in the 1970s.

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos

他们的财富和对艺术的热爱使他们有了一个不可避免的目标，那就是创造一个地方，让胡斯顿人走到一起，享受艺术赋予他们的一切。最初，多米尼克·德·梅尼尔(Dominique De Menil)曾与路易斯·卡恩(Louis Kahn)接触，要求为他们设计一个博物馆空间，但他早逝，加上约翰·德梅尼尔(John De Menil)同年去世，这一直到20世纪80年代初，多米尼克·德·梅尼尔(Dominique De Menil)才准备再次处理这样一个项目，但这一次，她邀请了法国最新的歌手、意大利建筑师伦佐·皮亚诺(Renzo Piano)在理查德·罗杰斯(RichardRogers)凭借其令人震惊的1977年庞皮杜中心(Pompidou Centre)获得成功后，没有人会怀疑他下一个伟大事业的亲密程度。

Their combined wealth and love for art left them with the inevitable goal of creating a place for Houstonians to come together and enjoy all that art had to given them. Originally, Dominique de Menil approached Louis Kahn about designing a museum space for them, but his untimely death paired with John de Menil’s passing that same year pushed the idea back for some time. It was not until the early 1980s that Dominique de Menil was prepared to tackle such a project again, but this time she called upon France’s latest sung hero, Italian architect Renzo Piano. After his success alongside Richard Rogers with their astonishing 1977 Pompidou Centre, no one could have suspected the understated intimacy of his next great undertaking.

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos

该项目的中心论点不是拆掉和腾出空间让所有人看到这一新成就，而是要保持社区的完整性。规模、方向、实质和规划布局都坚持一个社区，而不破坏任何先前存在的条件。

Rather than tearing down and making room for all to see this new accomplishment, the central thesis of the project was to keep the integrity of the community in tact. The scale, orientation, materiality, and programmatic layout all adhere to a neighborhood without disrupting any of the preexisting conditions.

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos

博物馆只有一层展览厅，地下有仓库和服务，上面有一层办公室和艺术储藏室。相对于大多数博物馆，包括休斯敦的其他博物馆，它们在布局和设计上非常“你不会错过”，梅尼尔收藏仍然是其社区中的一种微妙的主食。

The museum is only one floor of galleries, with storage and services in the basement below, and one floor of offices and art storage above. As opposed to most museums, including the others in Houston, which are very “you can’t miss it” in their placement and design, the Menil Collection remains as a subtle staple in its community.

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos

如果一个人不知道他们要去哪里，或者他们在寻找什么，人们很容易就会完全错过。但一到，梅尼尔就像任何儿时朋友的家一样平易近人。

If one did not know where they were headed or what they were looking for, one could easily miss it completely. But upon arriving, The Menil is as approachable as any childhood friend’s home was in the past.

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos

游客首先受到北侧一大片草坪的欢迎，穿过这一空间的步道使游客能够了解博物馆的空间环境和周围居住在社区其他地方的平房。

Visitors are first greeted by a large lawn on the North side, and the walk across this space allows for taking in the spatial context of the museum and the surrounding bungalows that populate the rest of the neighborhood. 

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos

土生土长的柏木镶板围绕着它的外部帮助连接建筑物和它的位置，而混凝土百叶窗在玻璃天花板下是典型的钢琴的高度工程屋顶系统。整个建筑周围的廊道形成了对结构的构造理解，暴露了钢I梁柱和定制钢屋顶组装的复杂细节。

The native Cypress wood paneling around its exterior helps connect the building to its location, while concrete louvers under a glass ceiling are typical of Piano’s highly engineered roof systems. The portico wrapping around the entire building creates a tectonic understanding of the structure, exposing the steel I-beam columns and intricate detail of the custom steel roof assembly.

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos

基本布局包括两个主轴的循环，与走廊空间沿一侧的长交叉轴。地板是松木，这是一种松木，而不是更标准的硬木；这是应德梅尼尔夫人本人的要求，因为她有远见，能认识到多年来地板上的不均匀磨损，并给地板增添了特色。多米尼克·德梅尼尔对设计的热情使她成为这个过程的整体，也是一个理想的客户。

The fundamental layout consists of two main axes of circulation, with gallery spaces along one side of the long cross axis. The floors are Pine, a soft wood as opposed to more standard hard woods; this was at the request of Mrs. de Menil herself, as she had the foresight to recognize the uneven wear that would accrue and add character to the floor over the years. Dominique de Menil’s passion for design made her integral to the process as well as an ideal client. 

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos

每个百叶窗的内部都有管道，以便在某些画廊空间的两端增加灯光，但许多展厅和主循环都是完全由穿过百叶窗的阳光照亮的。

Each of the louvers has conduit inside for the possibility of lights to be added to the ends for certain gallery spaces, but many of the galleries and the main circulation are solely illuminated by sunlight passing through the louvers.

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos

梅尼尔酒店不是室内庭院或咖啡馆，而是隔壁的公园，每周的任何一天，休斯敦各地的人们都会来野餐、爬树或踢球。梅尼尔基金会实际上拥有主楼周围三英亩的房屋和其他小型博物馆，并雇佣了英国建筑师大卫·齐波菲尔为整个校园制定一个长期的总体计划。

Instead of an interior courtyard or café, The Menil celebrates its park next door, where any day of the week people from all over Houston come to have picnics, climb the massive oak trees, or just kick a ball around. The Menil Foundation actually owns the three acres of housing and other smaller museums around the main building, and has hired British architect David Chipperfield to create a long-term master plan for the entire campus.

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos

Chipperfield已经制定了一项计划，该计划也适当地围绕着保持社区不受损害的想法，但将增加更多的艺术家工作室和画廊空间，以及向南延伸的开放公园空间，以与休斯顿未来的Metrorail计划相连接。这将允许顾客使用公共交通和步行到梅尼尔校园的主要藏品。

Chipperfield has laid out a plan that also appropriately revolves around the idea of keeping the neighborhood unscathed, but will add more artist studios and gallery spaces as well as open park spaces extending south to connect with Houston's future METRORail plan. This will allow patrons to use public transportation and walk the Menil campus up to the main collection.

 © D Jules Gianakos

c D Jules Gianakos