Donald Judd's Architecture Office reopens in Marfa following restoration
The Texas studio and living space of American designer Donald Judd will reopen later this month following a seven-year restoration effort by architects Troy Schaum and Rosalyne Shieh, including recovery after a 2021 fire.
Begun in 2018 and led by a collaboration between the Judd Foundation and Schaum Architects (formerly Shaum/Shieh), the project included restoring and repainting the facade of Donald Judd's Architecture Office in Marfa, and optimising the interior climate for the display of design and art objects.
Overall, Schaum Architects focused on making "subtle interventions" to the building for the restoration, aiming to leave "little trace".
"We have learned through this work that strategically not doing something is much more difficult than producing the new," said Schaum Architects founding principal Troy Schaum. "We like making new things too, but it is conceptually much more challenging to work through measured restraint."
"These are projects in which, if we are successful, our hands as designers will leave little trace."
Originally built in 1907 as a boarding house and grocery, the 5,000-square-foot (464-square-metre) building served as Judd's main architecture office between 1990, when he purchased the building, and his death in 1994.
On its first storey, the building's long, narrow floor plan is divided into Judd's office towards the bevelled entrance, and two gallery spaces at the back.
On the top floor, the space was split into several smaller rooms, which contain another office, three bedrooms, and a dining room and a kitchen.
The project team began restoring the building in 2018 with repairs to the facade, including patching leaks, rebuilding elements such as the original wood windows and refinishing original brass elements.
"The brickwork was done meticulously, interior and out to match the historic configuration and the 'raked joint' condition in which Donald Judd had left the project," said Shieh, who led architecture practice Schaum/Shieh with Schaum, active in the earlier phases of the project.
"We worked closely through many mock-ups and sampling until everyone was comfortable with both the efficacy of the technical solution and also the intangible qualities that are trickier to describe without witnessing them."
The second phase of the project in 2020 focused on updating the interior spaces.
Beyond restoration work, such as stabilising the floors, the team also implemented "light mechanical equipment and passive systems" throughout the building to keep the interior at optimal conditions to display Judd's furniture, art and objects.
As the restoration was nearing completion in 2021, a fire broke out, which resulted in a collapsed roof and much of the second floor being burned. According to the New York Times, the office was largely empty of objects at the time as part of the ongoing work.
Following the fire, the project team further updated the building with energy-efficient systems, such as rooftop solar panels and LED lighting, and other elements, such as a steel canopy matching the original early 1900s design.
Donald Judd's Architecture Office will open to the public in late September 2025. It follows the restoration of Judd's home and office in Manhattan in 2013.
It's part of the larger Marfa Restoration Plan by the Judd Foundation to update the designer's buildings in Texas, which also includes work on exhibition space, The Block.
Schaum/Shieh Architects completed the restoration of the John Chamberlain building in Marfa in 2022, an art gallery that is also part of the Judd complex.
Judd's foundation is extremely active in the maintenance of the artist's legacy. Last year, it sued Kim Kardashian for her misidentification of Judd tables in her SKKN offices.
The photography is by Matthew Millman
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