Rothko Chapel Closes for Restoration By Will Speros • March 7, 2019 Print

A new ceiling apparatus will be installed to softly filter natural light inside through a new skylight. All images courtesy Architecture Research Office.

The Rothko Chapel in Houston has officially closed its doors to undergo a $30 million restoration by New York-based firm Architecture Research Office. As part of the previously announced Opening Spaces masterplan, the restoration will also include an expansion of the non-denominational chapel with three new volumes to support its ongoing social justice programming. Although additional construction will kick off in 2020, the Opening Spaces plan will be fully completed by 2021 to coincide with the Rothko Chapel’s 50th anniversary.

Images courtesy Architecture Research Office.

Founded in 1971 by art patrons John and Dominique de Menil, the chapel showcases 14 large-scale black canvases commissioned by the American abstract expressionist Mark Rothko in 1964. Modeled largely on the interiors of his own studio, the chapel opened to the public a year after Rothko’s death in 1970. Although Rothko designed the space with minimal exposure to natural light, he was unable to take into account the intensity of light within the Texas metropolis. The interior is poised to receive a new ceiling apparatus complete with a skylight and digital lighting system designed by George Sexton Associates that will soften daylight with special glass and a louver system. A new landscape design will be overseen by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects will increase green space and reduce the site’s vulnerability to flooding. A new welcome pavilion will be developed along with a new park and garden spaces.

Images courtesy Architecture Research Office.

The Rothko Chapel accommodates more than 100,000 annual visitors from more than 100 countries.