Emily Rauh Pulitzer Tribute at CAM 20th
Apr 21, 2024
Allied Works founding principal Brad Cloepfil was the honoree and special tribute was paid to his visionary Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis design and building in the Grand Center Arts District in St. Louis at the Dinner Program at CAM's 20th Anniversary Gala on April 20th. The event auction raised over half a million dollars for CAM 'Fund the Need' community outreach programs, and Brad was recognized in a tribute by Founding Board Committee member Emily Rauh Pulitzer.
"When we were planning the museum, we knew that it was going to be difficult to select the right architect for the building. We needed someone who could design a space that would really work for the art, but also a space in conversation with the Pulitzer Arts Foundation’s building, which had just opened next door. It was not an easy task. A lot rode on making the right decision.
We worked with Cindy Weese—the then dean of architecture at Washington University—and when we brought the finalists to St. Louis, they saw the site for CAM and gave a talk at WashU. Later some of us traveled to see each architect’s
work in person.
We flew out to Portland and met Brad at the Wieden + Kennedy Agency World Headquarters, which he had designed. He had transformed two, old, decrepit, timber-frame warehouses into a spectacular new office space, with almost floating wood stairs and massive wooden beams set against a concrete background. It felt like how we wanted our museum to feel.
We then drove out into the country to see the Maryhill Overlook—an architectural intervention that Brad created above the Columbia River. You really were able to get an idea of Brads sensibility there. The way he investigated a site and understood it, how invested he was in the place, and how one space could make possible so many different experiences of the same environment. It was elemental, yet flexible.
I admit I was still hesitant about choosing Brad, because he had not built a new complex building. He’d only opened his practice six years earlier in 1994, and even though he was clearly very talented, I wasn’t sure that CAM should be the first big building he created.
But Betsy thought differently. She reminded us that at the Forum we show young artists, and that we should pick a young architect. That convinced us to select Brad. Several years later, when CAM’s building was up but not yet finished, Richard Serra visited and looked at the galleries and said that he found them strong and good. Betsy was right in her choice of Brad, and Richard’s later reaction only confirmed our decision. Artists love working in this building and it
has served CAM well for all kinds of exhibitions and activities.
Over the past two decades Brad Cloepfil has realized diverse, award-winning projects across the U.S. and internationally, receiving widespread acclaim for his work on creative workplaces, academic and cultural institutions, and for crafting powerful spaces for art. Brad is uniquely capable of drawing out the specific character of a site—of transforming place into space with his singular understanding of light, form, and material.
Since CAM opened its doors twenty years ago, Cloepfil and Allied Works have designed such celebrated spaces as the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, the University of Michigan Museum of Art,
and now the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University, which is slated to open this June.
We are fortunate to have been Brad’s first museum commission. From the beginning, CAM was envisioned as a space where inventive and challenging works would create meaningful conversation, and Brad has made those conversations possible. I’m proud to say that CAM is now one of the major contemporary art museums in the country. Brad has enabled CAM to achieve its boldest visions for the future. Thank you, Brad"
Emily Rauh Pulitzer
Allied Works founding principal Brad Cloepfil was the honoree and special tribute was paid to his visionary Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis design and building in the Grand Center Arts District in St. Louis at the Dinner Program at CAM's 20th Anniversary Gala on April 20th. The event auction raised over half a million dollars for CAM 'Fund the Need' community outreach programs, and Brad was recognized in a tribute by Founding Board Committee member Emily Rauh Pulitzer.
"When we were planning the museum, we knew that it was going to be difficult to select the right architect for the building. We needed someone who could design a space that would really work for the art, but also a space in conversation with the Pulitzer Arts Foundation’s building, which had just opened next door. It was not an easy task. A lot rode on making the right decision.
We worked with Cindy Weese—the then dean of architecture at Washington University—and when we brought the finalists to St. Louis, they saw the site for CAM and gave a talk at WashU. Later some of us traveled to see each architect’s
work in person.
We flew out to Portland and met Brad at the Wieden + Kennedy Agency World Headquarters, which he had designed. He had transformed two, old, decrepit, timber-frame warehouses into a spectacular new office space, with almost floating wood stairs and massive wooden beams set against a concrete background. It felt like how we wanted our museum to feel.
We then drove out into the country to see the Maryhill Overlook—an architectural intervention that Brad created above the Columbia River. You really were able to get an idea of Brads sensibility there. The way he investigated a site and understood it, how invested he was in the place, and how one space could make possible so many different experiences of the same environment. It was elemental, yet flexible.
I admit I was still hesitant about choosing Brad, because he had not built a new complex building. He’d only opened his practice six years earlier in 1994, and even though he was clearly very talented, I wasn’t sure that CAM should be the first big building he created.
But Betsy thought differently. She reminded us that at the Forum we show young artists, and that we should pick a young architect. That convinced us to select Brad. Several years later, when CAM’s building was up but not yet finished, Richard Serra visited and looked at the galleries and said that he found them strong and good. Betsy was right in her choice of Brad, and Richard’s later reaction only confirmed our decision. Artists love working in this building and it
has served CAM well for all kinds of exhibitions and activities.
Over the past two decades Brad Cloepfil has realized diverse, award-winning projects across the U.S. and internationally, receiving widespread acclaim for his work on creative workplaces, academic and cultural institutions, and for crafting powerful spaces for art. Brad is uniquely capable of drawing out the specific character of a site—of transforming place into space with his singular understanding of light, form, and material.
Since CAM opened its doors twenty years ago, Cloepfil and Allied Works have designed such celebrated spaces as the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, the University of Michigan Museum of Art,
and now the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University, which is slated to open this June.
We are fortunate to have been Brad’s first museum commission. From the beginning, CAM was envisioned as a space where inventive and challenging works would create meaningful conversation, and Brad has made those conversations possible. I’m proud to say that CAM is now one of the major contemporary art museums in the country. Brad has enabled CAM to achieve its boldest visions for the future. Thank you, Brad"
Emily Rauh Pulitzer