Scheduled to open coinciding with Miami's Art Basel, Florida International University's 46,000-square-foot Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum has been called "the jewel of the campus." It will be used to exhibit work from the university's permanent collection, host temporary exhibitions, present educational programs and symposia, and draw scholars and art-loving public alike. Designed by HOK Florida, this project steps into unchartered territory and ventured to exhibit paintings with natural light, something no other museum in Florida had dared to do. HOK and the museum agreed that a goal should be to have a proportion of the works seen in overhead daylight from skylights as they were composed in and planned to be seen in daylight. All UV is filtered out and light level and color carefully controlled, using an array of large "leaves" or "petals" to preferentially scatter light to the display walls.
This is one of four recent museum projects designed by HOK Florida - Ringling Museum of Art, Dali Museum, St. Petersburg Museum of Art, and Frost Art Museum.