The contribution of a major art collection created the opportunity to add two small galleries and the need to expand the University Museum’s closed collection (i.e.-art storage) capacity. The closed collection required a large space with a volume sufficient to expand vertically into a future mezzanine. The new galleries demanded adjacency to the existing galleries and the ability to connect to any additional future galleries.

The solution was to add a new closed collection wing with a suitable high bay structure to accommodate a future mezzanine. The west face of the addition features a trellised arcade with a rhythm derived from the original museum. This trellis decorates and modulates the scale of what would otherwise be a virtually windowless box. This arcade structure will become the connection to future galleries, allowing visitors to pass by the building’s service wing, which would also be undisturbed by future gallery additions.

The existing building, some twenty-five years old, was very functional but architec-turally bland. Since the addition was essentially an overgrown storage shed (albeit one with highly sophisticated environmental and security systems) the challenge was to make a hand-some addition that was compatible with but better than the original building but that didn’t call too much attention to itself, and at a moderate construction cost.



Lawrence Art Galleries Website