Architects Eye New ICA

This coming Sunday, the Institute of Contemporary Art opens its new doors to the public, with a community open house. The museum is moving from the Back Bay location it has occupied for 31 years into a $51 million building on Boston's Fan Pier.

The 65,000 square foot facility, designed by the New York firm of Diller Scofidio and Renfro, is three times the size of the ICA's former home on Boylston Street. Critics are praising the modern design, with its glass walls and cantilevered top floor reaching out to the water.

It overlooks a waterfront boardwalk with mahogany decking that climbs up a set of stairs, and then lines the underside of the of the overhang. For now, the ICA stands alone, jutting out to the sea in a neighborhood expected to develop dramatically over the next decade.

For a look at the building, WBUR's Bob Oakes joined by two leading architects. Leland Cott is Co-Founding Principal of Bruner/Cott Architects in Cambridge and Adjunct Professor of Urban Design at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Also, on the line from New York is Cliff Pearson, Deputy Editor of the Architectural Record.