North Wing: Getting Closer

Things are moving rapidly as the construction team continues to finalize the details on our new North Wing.

If you live nearby, be sure to take a walk on Centerway, past the entrance to the Museum. You can see the glass panels being installed on the contemporary gallery building. Look at them during different times of the day, and you can see the trees and sky reflected in the glass.

The glass is being installed through the first week of November, starting on the east side of the building and moving around to the west. The panels are added from the ground up and the majority of the panels are quite large at 10′ x 20′.

Inside the gallery building, the majority of the walls are plastered and ready for painting. Even with all the construction activity taking place in the space, you can begin to sense the contemplative nature of the galleries, with their bright white undulating walls and diffused top lighting in the space.

In the adjacent amphitheater hotshop demonstration space, the balcony that will offer 360-degree views of the glassmaking is poured. In early November, we start installing both the retractable seating and the glassmaking equipment. The building is weathered-in, which means it’s received all the paneling and weatherproofing to keep it dry. Now the construction team is working on re-cladding the outside with the black corrugated metal paneling.