MASS MoCA is a vanguard institution in the broader landscape of museums today. In short, others are trying to go where MASS MoCA is and has been: a non-collecting institution with a deep relationship to its city and local community, committed to education and an active engagement with its patrons.
Allied Works and five specialist consultants led a site-wide facilities assessment for MASS MoCA identifying current issues affecting the museum’s physical plant, its performance, and its operations. Our review focused on structure, envelope, building systems, site infrastructure, code, accessibility, security, and interior environment. Based on site visits and meetings with museum staff over five months, our team ranked items, resulting in 55 critical items, 131 priority items, and 268 strategic long term items.
The goals of the assessment, beyond the core investigatory work, are to synthesize and prioritize the museum’s maintenance needs, to recommend additional forensic work or follow-on studies, and to record the abundance of institutional knowledge held by MASS MoCA’s staff about its buildings’ histories, how they are actually operated, and the issues that the campus faces from accumulated deferred maintenance.