Annabelle Selldorf’s design for the new Shak­er Muse­um in Chatham, New York, offers a pow­er­ful archi­tec­tur­al response to the Shak­er community’s unique vision and his­to­ry. This design not only embod­ies the Shak­ers’ aes­thet­ic prin­ci­ples of sim­plic­i­ty, util­i­ty, and beau­ty but also con­tex­tu­al­izes them with­in the Utopi­an val­ues that char­ac­ter­ized the reli­gious sect’s phi­los­o­phy and way of life.

The Shak­ers, offi­cial­ly known as the Unit­ed Soci­ety of Believ­ers in Christ’s Sec­ond Appear­ing, emerged in the 18^th cen­tu­ry as a utopi­an reli­gious move­ment ded­i­cat­ed to com­mu­nal liv­ing, paci­fism, and celiba­cy. Renowned for their deeply spir­i­tu­al approach to life, the Shak­ers built self-sus­tain­ing com­mu­ni­ties that aspired to reflect heav­en on earth. At the heart of their ethos was a ded­i­ca­tion to per­fec­tion in crafts­man­ship and har­mo­ny, val­ues that were mir­rored in their metic­u­lous­ly craft­ed fur­ni­ture, build­ings, and tools. Their min­i­mal­ist designs, clean lines, and unadorned forms embod­ied a sense of puri­ty that has since become icon­ic in Amer­i­can design.

The Shak­ers were also trail­blaz­ers in advo­cat­ing for gen­der equal­i­ty with­in their com­mu­ni­ties, where men and women shared lead­er­ship roles and respon­si­bil­i­ties. Their celi­bate, com­mu­nal way of life and the rad­i­cal egal­i­tar­i­an­ism of their soci­ety marked them as a dis­tinct social and spir­i­tu­al exper­i­ment that deeply influ­enced the Amer­i­can cul­tur­al land­scape. Although the Shak­er move­ment dwin­dled in num­bers over time (there are only two liv­ing mem­bers today), their design lega­cy endures, cel­e­brat­ed for its blend of func­tion and spirituality.

In her design for the Shak­er Muse­um, Sell­dorf embraces the Shak­er ethos while cre­at­ing a con­tem­po­rary space that invites new audi­ences to explore the lega­cy of this com­mu­ni­ty. The restrained, thought­ful design high­lights the integri­ty and func­tion­al­i­ty at the core of Shak­er aes­thet­ics, with­out attempt­ing to imi­tate it. The result is a struc­ture that feels both con­tem­po­rary and time­less — a fit­ting trib­ute to a com­mu­ni­ty that pri­or­i­tized qual­i­ty and purpose.

The museum’s new design fea­tures clean, unem­bell­ished lines, an empha­sis on nat­ur­al light, and a restrained mate­r­i­al palette that echoes Shak­er prin­ci­ples. The building’s inte­ri­or spaces are orga­nized to fos­ter an atmos­phere of con­tem­pla­tion and reflec­tion, cre­at­ing an immer­sive expe­ri­ence for vis­i­tors who want to delve into Shak­er life, val­ues, and art.

This approach to design enables the muse­um to not mere­ly dis­play Shak­er arti­facts but posi­tion them with­in the con­text of the community’s broad­er utopi­an vision. By pri­or­i­tiz­ing sim­plic­i­ty and acces­si­bil­i­ty, the muse­um cul­ti­vates a space that feels invit­ing and inti­mate, draw­ing vis­i­tors into the Shak­er world in a way that respects and hon­ors the community’s spir­it. The muse­um hous­es over 18,000 objects which make up the most com­pre­hen­sive col­lec­tion of Shak­er mate­r­i­al cul­ture and archives ever assem­bled. In doing so, it becomes a liv­ing space for learn­ing and reflec­tion, much as Shak­er com­mu­ni­ties were designed to facil­i­tate spir­i­tu­al growth and prac­ti­cal skill.

The new Shak­er Muse­um design is not only an homage to the Shak­er lega­cy but also an explo­ration of how archi­tec­tur­al spaces can serve as cul­tur­al bridges. By cre­at­ing a muse­um space that embraces the Shak­er com­mit­ment to pur­pose­ful design and com­mu­nal val­ues, con­tem­po­rary audi­ences are invit­ed to con­sid­er the rel­e­vance of these prin­ci­ples today.

The new build­ing reflects the spir­it of a com­mu­ni­ty that val­ued sim­plic­i­ty and pur­pose in every facet of life, offer­ing a space where vis­i­tors can con­nect with the Shak­er ethos in a deeply per­son­al and con­tem­pla­tive way. Through this thought­ful­ly designed muse­um, the Shak­er lega­cy lives on — not only as a design aes­thet­ic but as an endur­ing inspi­ra­tion for inten­tion­al and har­mo­nious living.

“Mod­ern archi­tects tend to like the clar­i­ty and sim­plic­i­ty of Shak­er fur­ni­ture and archi­tec­ture,” Annabelle Sell­dorf said in an inter­view. ​“But of course, it’s so much more pro­found than that. It’s about equal­i­ty, sus­tain­abil­i­ty and com­mu­ni­ty, to men­tion a few of the val­ues. The pair­ing of the [val­ues and aes­thet­ics of Shak­er life] real­ly appealed to me.”

The rich his­to­ry and cul­ture of the Shak­ers is fur­ther explored in the site’s land­scape design. ​“Our design for the muse­um land­scape respects the vibrant geome­tries of the Shak­er tra­di­tion and its ideals of sim­plic­i­ty, col­or and func­tion­al­i­ty,” says Thomas Woltz of Nel­son Byrd Woltz Land­scape Archi­tects, who also point­ed out that the design was also influ­enced by the Shak­er lega­cy of coop­er­a­tion and inno­va­tion. By inter­twin­ing the his­tor­i­cal and the eco­log­i­cal, the land­scape embod­ies the Shak­ers’ pro­found respect for the land and their com­mit­ment to com­mu­ni­ty, encour­ag­ing vis­i­tors to engage with nature and each oth­er. ​“Our guid­ing goal for the land­scape design was to embody the Shak­er max­im: ​“Don’t make some­thing unless it is both nec­es­sary and use­ful, but if it is both nec­es­sary and use­ful, don’t hes­i­tate to make it beautiful.”