Displaying items by tag: Renovation

Hurrah. Another American museum has gotten it right, bracing against the tide of disastrous new buildings and additions that ruin and sometimes cripple so many of these institutions.

The cause for celebration is a makeover at the venerable Wadsworth Atheneum here, which opened its doors in 1844 and is this country’s oldest art museum in continuous operation. It joins a growing list of successful expansions and refurbishments that may mark the end of an era of architectural indulgence that began in 1978 with the opening of the National Gallery’s East Wing, the putative mother of useless event spaces that nourish neither art nor the people who love it.

The fashion industry stepped in once again to help fund ailing Italian museums. This time, Florence-based Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo made major donations, reinforcing their commitment to Italian arts and culture.

On Monday night, the Uffizi Gallery re-opened eight rooms following extensive renovations funded by a €600,000 ($678,702) donation from Ferragamo, WWD reported.

Starting this week, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art will be something it hasn't been in recent memory: overwhelming.

When the museum unveils the final stage of its multi-year renovation this week, it will be the first time in 50 years that every gallery in the museum is in use, and its exhibit space will be larger than it's ever been.

"When entering Morgan Great Hall, people will gasp, or that's what we're hoping," said museum Director Susan Talbott. "This is the most number of paintings I believe we've had [on exhibit simultaneously], ever."

At the Wadsworth Atheneum, they called it the Leak Tour, and sometimes the Horror Tour.

It wasn’t led by docents, but by the new director, Susan L. Talbott. In 2008, she guided board members and prospective donors through the many places where water was seeping into the exhibition galleries of the country’s oldest continuously operating art museum, founded in 1842.

“I was getting calls night after night, in the middle of the night, about the leaks,” said Ms. Talbott, who recalled the efforts made to move some of the 50,000 works in its fine arts collection to safer spots after each breach was discovered.

Casa Vicens, the first house designed by Antoni Gaudí in 1888, is in the midst of a renovation in order to be converted into a museum-house. The building, which has been on Unesco’s world heritage list since 1984, is due to open to the public for the first time in autumn 2016.

The Andorran bank MoraBanc acquired Casa Vicens in March 2014, with the aim of making the building accessible to the public, La Vanguardia reports.

The Joan Mitchell Center just underwent a big renovation of its Treme campus, including upgrades to its historic buildings by Jonathan Tate and a modern new 8,000-square-foot studio building by Lee Ledbetter.

The big addition to the campus is the Ledbetter-designed studio space, a striking modern structure with spare, high-ceilinged studios. They are working to attain LEED certified building, which was built with rainwater management in mind.

Today the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York detailed its plans for the Met Breuer, the museum’s annex for modern and contemporary art, which is set to open in March 2016 at the Whitney Museum of American Art’s former, Marcel Breuer–designed headquarters. The high modernist building will be renovated prior to the beginning of the Met’s eight-year lease and will include a “book bar,” the museum announced.

Once home to kings and now one of France's most visited sites, the Chateau de Versailles is planning a new venture with a luxury hotel to prop up its finances, local media said on Sunday.

The palace's management has called for a tender to create a hotel in three 1680s buildings situated just outside the Versailles park's gates, with views of some of its most famous buildings, the Journal du Dimanche said.

The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft announces a major renovation plan to be completed in Spring 2016. After 35 years of artist support, exhibitions, educational programs, and community building, the newly designed museum will increase public space and open opportunities for continued growth.

Renovation plans aim to meet ambitious 2016 goals to engage 10,000 more children in educational programs, double the average visitor duration, grow with downtown development and Museum Row expansion, and double capacity for events. The design includes redesigned education space, expanded MakerSpace, and a new café.

After years of delays, the Peabody Essex Museum is moving forward with its expansion plan, adding a gallery wing to the existing complex and a massive off-site facility for managing and conserving collections.

The plan, which the museum announced Wednesday, represents a significant departure from its earlier intent to build a 175,000-square-foot addition to the existing museum. The new design, by contrast, calls for 40,000 square feet in new gallery space and an 80,000-square-foot off-site facility known as the Collection Stewardship Center. The museum hopes to break ground next year, with a projected completion date in 2019.