Project

State Historical Society of Missouri, Center for Missouri Studies

Location: Columbia, MO
Completed: August 2019
Architect: Multi Studio
Manufacturer: Curved Wood

Multistudio designed the State Historical Society of Missouri's Center for Missouri Studies in Columbia, a 76,000-square-foot building that opened in 2019 at the edge of the University of Missouri's Peace Park. The design takes its cues from the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers: curvilinear massing in Ste. Genevieve limestone references the rivers merging, and that same river language carries into the building's showcase interior moments.

The Benton Stair, named for the fluid brushwork of Missouri painter Thomas Hart Benton, cantilevers through the full-height lobby in curved Missouri white oak, its enclosed balustrade curving in section as well as plan. In the reading room, a curved white oak ceiling in Curved Wood's system - the manufacturer formerly known as ACGI - shapes itself into the profile of a riverboat bow, with linear lighting traced into the wood to follow the curve from ridge to eave.

More from this project

The Benton Stair descending through the lobby of the Center for Missouri Studies, its curved wood balustrade lit by a folded skylight above — The Benton Stair cantilevers through the full-height lobby beneath a folded skylight.

The curved white oak ceiling of the reading room at the Center for Missouri Studies, its form referencing a riverboat bow — The reading room ceiling's curved white oak millwork echoes a riverboat bow and the movement of the Missouri River.

Close view of the curved wood reading room ceiling at the Center for Missouri Studies, with integrated linear lighting following the curve — Linear lighting is set into the wood ceiling, tracing its curve from ridge to eave.

The reading room stacks and reference desk at the Center for Missouri Studies, beneath the curved wood ceiling — The curved ceiling sweeps down to meet the reading room's open stacks and reference desk.

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