“We are excited to announce that our new facility, designed by Renzo Piano, will open to the public on November 16,2014.
The renovation and expansion of our landmark building at 32 Quincy Street in Cambridge will bring the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Arthur M. Sackler museums and their collections together under one roof for the first time.
Visitors will be able to explore new research connected to the objects on display and the ideas they generate in the galleries; gain a glimpse of leading conservators at work; and in the unique Art Study Center, have hands-on experiences with a wide range of objects from the collections.
To celebrate the opening, the Harvard Art Museums will host a suite of special events. The first of these events will be a celebration for Harvard students in keeping with the museums’ mission of teaching and research as well as their role in supporting a broad range of teaching across disciplines at Harvard.
Special events for faculty, donors, museum supporters, alumni, and others will follow, culminating in a preview for Cambridge residents ahead of the public opening celebration on Sunday, November 16. Before the celebrations begin, there are still many months of work ahead. Check in with Index to follow the progress of the renovation project and the work of our staff as we approach the November opening” announces the Harvard Art Museums .
The project by Renzo Piano, previously published (see details ), is one of the most anticipated for 2014,not only in the city of Boston . “The original 1920’s building by Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch and Abbot Architects, was the first of its kind, combining museum space, teaching and conservation in one facility to promote scholarship. Following this tradition, the new centre is designed to make the collection of 200,000 objects more accessible for teaching and learning.
All post-1925 additions and alterations have been demolished to make way for the new extension on Prescott Street. All aspects of the historic building – structural, mechanical and technical – will be restored and upgraded.
Galleries and study centers are being significantly expanded; as befits their importance to the mission of the museum, the study centers are at the center of the building on level four. The conservation lab will continue to occupy the top of the building, above the study center under the new sloping glazed roof. Public amenities, and support spaces for special events will be enlarged and modernized, and include an auditorium of 294 seats at basement level.
While the original entrance faces onto the university campus, a new entrance into the museum from Prescott Street symbolically opens the museum to the local community. Views from the interior courtyard through to the entrances on both sides of the building will help visitors to orientate themselves and there will also be secondary views, through the café and the shop, to Broadway and the Carpenter Center next door.
At the north end of the extension a winter garden projects beyond the main gallery volume. This and other glazed sections of facade in the first-floor exhibition space allow views into the museum from the street and bring daylight into the building in a very controlled way” Renzo Piano Building Workshop .