Next November, the University of Notre Dame in Indiana is scheduled to open the first phase of Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, a 70,000-sf cultural facility that will eventually replace the campus’ venerable Snite Museum of Art and double the exhibit space available for Notre Dame’s 31,000-item art collection.
The building under construction establishes a new location for the museum, and is considered to be a “front door” to an arts district on the campus’ south side that already includes the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, the nine-acre Charles B. Hayes Family Sculpture Park, and the Matthew and Joyce Walsh Family Hall of Architecture.
Long-term storage of Notre Dame’s vaunted collection of prints, drawings, and photography, along with most of the museum’s personnel, will remain at Snite until Phase 2 of this complex is realized. Phase 2’s start date and timeline have yet to be disclosed, but what’s known is that it will increase the size of the new museum complex to 132,000 sf, and provide more gallery space, offices, an auditorium, and a works-on-paper study center.
Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) is the design architect on this project. The rest of the Building Team includes Bulley & Andrews (GC), the engineering firms Kohler Ronan (MEP), Thornton Tomasetti (SE) and TfL (CE); and Gallagher & Associates (exhibit design). The construction cost has not been disclosed.
Giving exhibits equal weight in the museum
Last week, BD+C interviewed RAMSA’s Melissa DelVecchio, FAIA, Partner; and Anthony McConnell, Senior Associate, about the Raclin museum’s design features within its three floors and a lower level.
DelVecchio noted that new construction was necessitated by the lack of available space near the Snite Museum for expansion. When Snite opened a generation ago, it was on the outer edge of what was then Notre Dame’s campus; now, it’s roughly in the middle of a significantly bigger campus. “It’s hard to find, and there’s no nearby parking,” she said.
Snite only has enough space to exhibit 2-3 percent of the museum’s collection, whereas Raclin will be able to show around 5%. DelVecchio pointed out, as well, that the new building will house a large temporary gallery and loading dock to better attract and handle traveling exhibits, something that Snite was not able to accommodate. The new building also will have more storage space that’s accessible to students for study purposes.
The galleries within Raclin revolve around a central, multi-height atrium that rises to a skylight, and the galleries themselves will have “equal prominence,” said McConnell, compared to some spaces in Snite that relegated the art to “second class” exhibition.
The lower level of Raclin “has no back,” he explained, in that its gallery for International Modern and Contemporary Art blends into the museum’s sculpture court. Raclin is also distinguished on its west side by an oval-shaped working chapel, Our Lady, Queen of Families, that will display some art and be near galleries with ecclesiastic art on display.
From an operational standpoint, the museum is designed to present zero thresholds for patrons with disabilities. That includes the installation of automated door openers for the facility’s restrooms.
The exterior design of this rectangular building is classical, and its materials will match the rest of the arts district and streetscape, said DelVelcchio.
Related Stories
| Dec 5, 2011
Summit Design+Build begins renovation of Chicago’s Esquire Theatre
The 33,000 square foot building will undergo an extensive structural remodel and core & shell build-out changing the building’s use from a movie theater to a high-end retail center.
| Nov 9, 2011
Lincoln Center Pavilion wins national architecture and engineering award
The project team members include owner Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York; design architect and interior designer of the restaurant, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York; executive architect, FXFOWLE, New York; and architect and interior designer of the film center, Rockwell Group, New York; structural engineer Arup (AISC Member), New York; and general contractor Turner Construction Company (AISC Member), New York.
| Oct 12, 2011
BIM Clarification and Codification in a Louisiana Sports Museum
The Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame celebrates the sporting past, but it took innovative 3D planning and coordination of the future to deliver its contemporary design.
| Oct 12, 2011
Consigli Construction breaks ground for Bigelow Laboratory Center for Ocean Health
Consigli to build third phase of 64-acre Ocean Science and Education Campus, design by WBRC Architects , engineers in association with Perkins + Will
| Sep 12, 2011
Living Buildings: Are AEC Firms up to the Challenge?
Modular Architecture > You’ve done a LEED Gold or two, maybe even a LEED Platinum. But are you and your firm ready to take on the Living Building Challenge? Think twice before you say yes.
| Apr 13, 2011
Expanded Museum of the Moving Image provides a treat for the eyes
The expansion and renovation of the Museum of the Moving Image in the Astoria section of Queens, N.Y., involved a complete redesign of its first floor and the construction of a three-story 47,000-sf addition.
| Apr 12, 2011
Entrance pavilion adds subtle style to Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
A $13 million gift from the Otis Booth Foundation is funding a new entrance pavilion at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. CO Architects, Los Angeles, is designing the frameless structure with an energy-efficient curtain wall, vertical suspension rods, and horizontal knife plates to make it as transparent as possible.
| Jan 21, 2011
Sustainable history center exhibits Fort Ticonderoga’s storied past
Fort Ticonderoga, in Ticonderoga, N.Y., along Lake Champlain, dates to 1755 and was the site of battles in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The new $20.8 million, 15,000-sf Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center pays homage to the French magasin du Roi (the King’s warehouse) at the fort.
| Jan 19, 2011
Industrial history museum gets new home in steel plant
The National Museum of Industrial History recently renovated the exterior of a 1913 steel plant in Bethlehem, Pa., to house its new 40,000-sf exhibition space. The museum chose VOA Associates, which is headquartered in Chicago, to complete the design for the exhibit’s interior. The exhibit, which has views of five historic blast furnaces, will feature artifacts from the Smithsonian Institution to illustrate early industrial America.
| Jan 19, 2011
Museum design integrates Greek history and architecture
Construction is under way in Chicago on the National Hellenic Museum, the nation’s first museum devoted to Greek history and culture. RTKL designed the 40,000-sf limestone and glass building to include such historic references as the covered walkway of classical architecture and the natural wood accents of Byzantine monasteries. The museum will include a research library and oral history center, plus a 3,600-sf rooftop terrace featuring three gardens. The project seeks LEED Silver.
