Fred Turner Agriculture Museum

Abstract

This project arose out of a visit to the Museum of the Southwest where I noticed a need. The house museum and library simply didn't have enough space to display all the pieces they had acquired throughout the years. The large majority of these pieces were agriculture and ranching related so the idea to design a museum specific to these interests was a natural fit. After this decision the next question that needed to be addressed is how to design a new building that relates to the existing buildings on campus. This was a challenge that took a lot of thought and deliberation, especially considering the campus was already made up of a variety of building designs and styles. The Fred Turner, Jr. Agriculture museum strives to integrate the exterior design with the material the museum highlights. With these thoughts in mind I researched agriculture and tried to find aspects of the industry that would translate into design features of the building. From this I landed upon the idea of designing features that would represent the four elements that are crucial to the agriculture industry; earth, water, wind and fire.