Johnston Marklee Unveils Elevated Pavilions for Bass Museum Expansion

California architecture studio Johnston Marklee has unveiled designs to expand the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, USA, with elevated galleries and courtyard spaces.

The project extends the museum into a 22,000-square-foot area at the southwest corner of its campus, combining indoor and outdoor space. Renderings show two rectangular pavilion structures resting on a thin concrete plane lifted off the ground to meet "resiliency guidelines" — likely a reference to Miami-Dade County's stated floodwater risks due to sea-level rise.

What does the elevation achieve?

Courtyards will pass underneath the raised structure. According to Johnston Marklee founding partner Sharon Johnston, the design also keeps the corner of the property open and increases public access. She called the project "transformative".

"Through careful analysis of light and shadow, space and volume, and the surrounding park and urban context, we are planning a transformative project that will increase public access to the museum's programs and artworks," said Johnston.

The expansion carries a layered formal language. Sheer white walls clad the upper structures, while walls at ground level, beneath the elevated volumes, receive more texture. At the centre of the project, a backlit oculus will illuminate the passage under the structure at night.

How does the project meet its park setting?

The ground-level passages will lead to landscape garden areas, with the blank face of one pavilion serving as a screen for screenings. This space will connect to the trees of Collins Park, which extends from the east face of the museum.

Facade perforations will sit at the top of the rectangular pavilions and on the walls separating the covered courtyards from the street. Primary exhibition space will occupy the pavilion structures themselves: renderings show white-wall galleries, rectangular windows and a skylight on the pavilion nearest the Isozaki building.

The design responds to a layered architectural history. The Bass occupies an original art deco building designed by Russell Pancoast as a library in the 1930s, before the museum opened in 1964, followed by an expansion by Arata Isozaki.

"We are thrilled to reimagine the southwest corner of Collins Park for The Bass," said Johnston Marklee founding partner Mark Lee. "This project continues the storied architectural heritage of the museum, preserving Russell Pancoast's 1942 Art Deco design while honoring Arata Isozaki's vision of a porous campus."

Johnston Marklee's other recent projects include a green-metal skyscraper in Phoenix, Arizona, and a minimalist pavilion for Danish furniture brand Vipp in Upstate New York. With its elevated pavilions and pass-through courtyards, the Bass scheme signals how flood-prone coastal museums may increasingly build upward and outward at once — a model that keeps art above the waterline while returning ground-level space to the public.