Mass Moca: From Mill to Museum

The result of more than a decade of careful planning, designing, and building, the newly opened Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art pays tribute to nearly a centurys' worth of industry, labor, and commerce. Located in the college town of North Adams in a series of old mill buildings that once housed a textile factory and later an electrical company, Mass MoCA is a stunning example of intelligent, civic-minded architectural gentrification and visionary planning.
The story of how Mass MoCA came to be from its conception in 1986 to its opening in the fall of 1999 is eloquently told in words and pictures in this beautifully designed volume. More than 100 black and white and color photographs document the painstaking transformation of a 19th-century mill complex, listed on the national Historic Register, into a museum that would house the world's largest collection of contemporary art. Museum Director Joseph Thompson offers a fascinating history of the site and his struggles to get the project off the ground, as well as a curatorial essay that reveals how the AIA Award-winning complex blurs the traditional lines between production and exhibition space to offer unique opportunities for artists and visitors alike. In addition, drawings and comments by the architect highlight the challenge to maintain the original integrity of the site and its classic 19th-century architecture. A unique and triumphant story of successful interaction between postindustrial concerns and historic preservation, Mill to Museum is a lesson in how architects, artists, citizens, and government can work together to transform not only a building but the very way we experience art and architecture.