Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

Mario Botta – The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlotte, North Carolina USA, 2010

The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a 3,390-square-meter museum space dedicated to modern art from the mid-20th century. The museum of modern art is part of the new Levine Center for the Arts in Uptown.
The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art was opened to the public on 2 January 2010.

The museum is the second in the country designed by the Swiss architect Mario Botta, who also designed the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A key design element of the four-story structure is the soaring glass atrium that extends across the core of the museum and diffuses natural light throughout the building. The open atrium allows visual interaction between the spaces. Other noteworthy features include a vaulted skylight system and a wraparound terracotta exterior.

The dominant feature of the building is the gallery on the fourth floor which makes a bold and dramatic declaration as it flies out of the building's core, cantilevered and yet not supported by an ornamental column that rises from the square below. Inside, Botta has maintained a rigorous but elegant simplicity in the range of materials including steel, glass, terracotta, black granite, polished concrete and wood. Botta has also designed some furniture selected for the museum, including the reception desk, bar-cafeteria, gallery benches and suspended ball lights.