Dedicated patrons of the Heard Museum’s Central Campus have long enjoyed a satellite facility in North Scottsdale. After outgrowing existing space in a nearby retail center, the museum sought to find a larger and more flexible home for its permanent collections, changing exhibitions and educational programs enjoyed by a growing audience.

​

Voted “Best Public Building 2008” by Southwest Contractor Magazine, Heard Museum North’s new home allows for a expanded programs and larger exhibits with additional square footage and access to a natural wash, serving as an interpretive garden. The design negates the regularity of retail suites in favour of a large open floor plan that contains the gallery in an enclosed “jewel box” allowing the visitor to transition from commercial environment into a zone of quiet reflection and connection to the art. The “jewel box”, clad in reclaimed redwood, gives an element of warmth, yet separation from the exposed steel and glass of the primary structure. The retail space to folds seamlessly into the gallery and adjacent café – in response to the ambitious and overlapping program desired by both patrons and curators alike. The result is a bold, declarative form, complete with “museum” super graphics along the entrance elevation and an abundance of natural light in and around the public gathering areas.

​

“The new Heard Museum North does two things that the mothership museum in Phoenix has always done well: a well-thought out exhibit in a first-rate facility. Heard North is as beautiful a setting as possible, with blond bamboo plank floors, walls built from the darkened wood of an old winery, clean lines, dramatic lighting and perfect landscaping with a small sculpture garden. You couldn’t ask for more.”

​

Richard Nilsen, The Arizona Republic, Jun. 25, 2006