Olson Kundig Named as Lead Architect & Exhibit Designer for The Bob Dylan Center
The George Kaiser Family Foundation has selected Olson Kundig as the lead architect and exhibit designer for The Bob Dylan Center™, the public-facing home of The Bob Dylan Archive® to be located in the Tulsa Arts District.
After reviewing proposals from top firms around the world, we agreed that Olson Kundig’s experience, talent and design aesthetic stood out as the best fit for this project. We’re excited about the vision that Olson Kundig expressed for a world-class cultural center that will do justice to the iconic Bob Dylan collection.Ken Levit, George Kaiser Family Foundation
Design Principals Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA and Alan Maskin won first place in the international design competition following an extensive evaluation process by a committee of advisors, including representatives of the George Kaiser Family Foundation and Bob Dylan’s management team. Tulsa-based Lilly Architects is partnering with Olson Kundig as the architect of record and Plains of Yonder is the partner for audio and multimedia experiences for the project.
This is a deeply meaningful project for us — not only acting as architectural support to Bob’s transformational legacy and creative, disciplined force, but also in preserving the teaching value of his legacy for future generations.Tom Kundig, Design Principal - Architecture
Since the 1960s, I have been inspired by the role that change and reinvention have played in the creative life of Bob Dylan. I’m grateful to the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the Dylan Center Advisory Council for selecting our team to reveal and share the treasure of a largely unseen archive to future audiences in perpetuity.Alan Maskin, Design Principal - Exhibits
The Bob Dylan Center™ is dedicated to the study and appreciation of Bob Dylan and his worldwide cultural significance. As the primary public venue for the Bob Dylan Archive®, the Center will curate and exhibit a collection of more than 100,000 items spanning nearly 60 years of Dylan’s career, from his handwritten manuscripts, notebooks and correspondence, to films, videos, artwork, memorabilia, and studio recordings.
Housing permanent, temporary and traveling exhibitions, the Center will be a multivalent venue readily accessible by artists, historians, musicologists, and the general public seeking a deeper comprehension of Dylan’s work and the myriad of influences that it embodies and the offshoots that he has inspired. Groundbreaking of the new Center is expected in 2019, with the Center set to open in 2021.