Displaying items by tag: repairs

The Freer Gallery of Art – the Smithsonian’s first art museum – will close for 18 months for renovations beginning Jan. 4, 2016, officials announced Wednesday.

Repairs to the 180,000-square-foot building, a National Historic Landmark, will include updating the climate control systems and installing technological upgrades to its auditorium and storage and conservation areas. In addition, some of the galleries will be returned to the original aesthetic created by architect Charles Platt.

As the first phase of the Eames House Conservation Project draws to a close, join Kyle Normandin, associate principal with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates and former GCI project manager; Lucia Dewey Atwood, director of the Eames Foundation's 250 Year Project; and Frank Escher of Escher GuneWardena Architecture, project architects for the phase one work, as they illuminate the critical role that science and investigation play in conservation.

They will discuss studies and conservation work completed at the Eames House to date—including analysis and treatment on tallowwood paneling, initial repairs to the building envelope, paint analysis, and investigation and replacement of the vinyl tile floor covering—as well as plans for the next phase of the project. Susan Macdonald, head of Field Projects at the GCI, will moderate the discussion.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and the Milwaukee Art Museum are sparring over who should pay more than $1 million in cost overruns on repairs for the Milwaukee County War Memorial, most of which is occupied by the Art Museum.

The debate comes out of a year-old agreement between the county, Milwaukee Art Museum and the War Memorial nonprofit organization that paved the path for significant building repairs. Milwaukee County agreed to spend $10 million through 2017, and committed to a list of repair projects to the center, which it owns.