The Menil Collection The Menil Collection

In 2012, after a year-long international search for an architect to design the Menil Drawing Institute, the Menil selected the Los Angeles-based firm Johnston Marklee. Founded in 1998 by Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee, the firm has undertaken residential, commercial, and institutional projects and exhibition environments worldwide, with a particular focus on the arts and collaborations with artists. Notable projects, often designed to take advantage of their site, include writers-in-residence facilities for the Lannan Foundation in Marfa, Texas; View House, Rosario, Argentina; Hill House, Pacific Palisades, California; and Helios House, Los Angeles. Distinguished by its respect for the landscape and the residential scale of the Menil’s campus, the firm’s approach reflects an ingenuity in adapting these characteristics to serve the multiple purposes of the MDI.

The Menil campus is undergoing renovations by the distinguished landscape architecture firm of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates that will truly transform the outdoor experience of the Menil grounds. This lauded firm has created environmentally sustainable and experientally rich places across a wide range of scales, with projects including Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House, the High Line in New York City, and the Lower Don Lands project in Toronto. With regards to the Menil campus, Michael Van Valkenburgh and his team are emphasizing local vegetation which responds to the quiet elegance of the Menil campus architecture.