Large pieces are coming into place on the North Wing Expansion

It’s amazing to see the progress taking place each week on this very active construction site.

The roof of the gallery building is progressing nicely. The concrete beams are now all installed—the final beam was put into place this week—and the crew is preparing for skylight installation, which will begin this month.

One of the most exciting moments in the construction process took place earlier this month. The final piece of the steel structure that forms the walls of the contemporary gallery was put into place. This was the single largest piece of steel installed on the site. Three enormous pieces of steel, brought in by police escort, were joined together into a 108,000-pound, 16-foot tall, 147-feet long piece, then craned into place on Sunday, April 6.

Most of the lower-level concrete is in place. The floor of the ventilator building, which will house the Museum’s 500-seat glass demonstration space, is being prepped for its concrete pour. The perimeter concrete is being poured around the gallery building to support the exterior glass. The first shipment of the gallery’s exterior glass has arrived in the US.

We’ve also reopened the Heineman Gallery. If you are in the area, we hope you’ll stop by to the newly reinstalled Heineman and Modern Galleries, which feature a number of works that are new on view.