Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond Architecture, Architects, Photos, Design, Project

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts - Extension : Richmond Building

Architectural Development, USA - design by Rick Mather Architects

7 May 2010 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Extension 2002- approx. Design: Rick Mather Architects RICK MATHER ARCHITECTS’ VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS $150 MILLION EXPANSION OPENS TO THE PUBLIC Rick Mather Architects’ $150m site wide masterplan and expansion of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia has opened to the public. images Travis Fullerton © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The new 15,330m2 (165,000 sq.ft) McGlothlin Wing opens VMFA up to the city and provides extensive new space for the museum’s collections and study centre. The museum reports that this expansion makes them one of the ten largest encyclopaedic museums in the United States and was described by the Director Alex Nyerges as "nothing short of spectacular." The $7 million E. Claiborne and Lora Robins Sculpture Garden combined with the Mary Morton Parsons Plaza act as a square onto the Boulevard, and under a hill at the end of the gardens a new 600 car parking deck completes the redevelopment of the thirteen and a half acre site campus which also includes three other historic buildings. The five level limestone and glass entrance wing features two floors of permanent collection galleries, including American art from the James W and Frances G McGlothlin collection and the J Harwood and Louise B Cochrane Fund, the museum's twenty-first century collection, and one of the US's leading collections of art from India, Nepal and Tibet. The new wing adds fifty percent additional exhibition space to the existing 35,300m2 (380,000 sq.ft) building. There is 139 m2 (1500sq.ft) of changing exhibition space for major touring exhibitions. The building also includes the Art Education centre, the Freeman library, a gift shop, state of the art object and painting conservation facilities, a 150 seat lecture hall, the ‘Best’ cafe with garden terrace and pool, and a restaurant overlooking the Sculpture Garden. The focus of the expansion is the atrium space with its five bridges connecting across all floors of the building. Work in the original building include new and reconfigured existing galleries to house the internationally renowned Sydney and Frances Lewis Collections of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Modern and Contemporary American art, and the Museum's Ancient Art and Chinese Collections. The design of the new building plaza and sculpture garden  opens up the VMFA to the city. The VMFA's announces itself to Richmond with Barry Flanagan’s golden ‘bunny’ behind the atrium’s 12m (40ft) high window facing the Boulevard. Natural light floods into the heart of the museum and a wall of glass opens the atrium, cafe and restaurant onto the pools, fountain and sculpture garden. The VMFA marks Rick Mather Architects first major commission in the United States. The project has been delivered in collaboration with SMBW Architects, a Richmond-based firm. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Extension info from Rick Mather Architects May 2010 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Expansion - Building Information Location: Richmond, Virginia, USA Architect: Rick Mather Architects Executive Architects: Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas Client: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Contract Value: $150 m Date of completion: Apr 2010 Gross internal area: 165,000 sqft/15,330m² New Build 42,000 sqft/3,900m² Renovation Rick Mather has returned to his homeland to add a new wing to Richmond’s Museum of Fine Arts. The project provides not only three new floors of gallery space, it also adds a shop, library, lecture hall, conservation studios, offices and a cafe and restaurant overlooking a four acre sculpture garden. This is Mather at his best: making sense of what is there but adding his own finely-honed stamp. The museum, which used to turn its back on the city with it blind facades, now addresses the grand boulevard on which it is sited in a very civic manner with a 40 foot high window of low-energy glass. Materially the building takes its cue from the old in its use of limestone. This is masterful city-making. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts information from RIBA Previously: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Richmond model image from the architects Virginia Museum of Fine Arts recently celebrated the Topping Out for the major concrete structure Construction will continue on the buildings façade and interiors and the much enlarged museum expects to complete in 2009. The expansion will add more than 9300m2 (100,000 sq.ft.) to the existing 22300m2 (240,000 sq.ft.) building, along with a new 1.6 hectare (4 acre) sculpture garden. The main entrance will be re-orientated facing the Boulevard, displaying pieces from the museum’s collection. Upon completion, the new museum complex will include extensive new permanent and changing exhibition galleries, educational facilities, visitor service areas, a restaurant, cafe and administrative offices. photo from the architects The new 600-car park parking deck, also part of the expansion project, has already been completed and is in operation. For this project, Rick Mather Architects teamed up with Richmond practice SMBW to form Rick Mather + SMBW, LLC. Value: $100m Virginia Museum of Fine Arts information from Rick Mather Architects 14 Mar 2008 Rick Mather Architects were selected from an international field of competitors in 2001 to plan and design a major expansion and renovation of the 65-year old museum. This marks the first major U.S. commission for the practice. For the VMFA project Rick Mather has incorporated with the Richmond-based firm SMBW to form Rick Mather + SMBW. images from architects Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Building Extension - MIPIM Future Project Award The project has already been recognised with a MIPIM/Architectural Review Future Project Award in the urban communities and sustainability's in 2004. Since opening in 1936 the VMFA site has expanded greatly. However, it is only since the Museum acquired land surrounding its main headquarters in the early 1990s, that an holistic approach to the site's design has been possible. A particular challenge was to return the Museum's main entrance to the Boulevard, one of Richmond's main thoroughfares, and to eliminate the rear entrance from the parking lot that has existed since the 1970s. The approach opens the main VMFA building up to the City of Richmond and provides extensive new space for the Museum's art collections. The VMFA expansion plan envisions adding more than 100,000 square feet to the existing 240,000-square-foot building. It creates a five-level glass and limestone entrance wing which will house new galleries for permanent and temporary exhibitions, a library, café, restaurant and offices. The new wing will be linked to the existing building across a central Atrium that, like a main street, opens onto new and existing spaces on three levels. Across the Atrium six glass-sided bridges will connect new and renovated upper-level galleries. The VMFA's purpose to the city will be announced by a 40 foot high window facing the Boulevard and displaying pieces from the Museum's collection. From inside there will be views eastward towards the downtown area which will be visible for the first time from the Museum site and a new Entrance Plaza will provide the city with an invitation to enter. For the first time the full 13.5 acres of the VMFA will be united as one campus. The existing parking lot to the rear of the building will be transformed into a 3.5 acre sculpture garden that covers the new three level parking facility with a terraced landscaped roof. The VMFA will break ground in 2005 with the opening slated for 2008. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Extension images / information from Rick Mather Architects Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Richmond extension architect : Rick Mather

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