University of Michigan Museum of Art News

University of Michigan Museum of Art, Allied Works Architecture Focus on the Final Year of Expansion and Restoration Project

ANN ARBOR, Mich., June 18 PRNewswire — The transformation of the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) into a multidisciplinary meeting place for the arts will soon be complete. Designed by architect Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture, the $41.9 million restoration and expansion project is slated to open in early 2009.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080618/CLW104 )

The ambitious project will completely renovate and modernize the Museum's 41,000-square-foot home in historic Alumni Memorial Hall, and add 53,000 square feet of space in a dramatic new wing.

Five critical attributes work in tandem to make this project remarkable: mission-driven architecture, singular collections, programming that will reposition the Museum as a meeting place for the arts, the vibrant student experience created by UMMA and the fact that all of this is centered at the heart of a powerhouse university. Together, these elements serve a common goal-putting art at the heart of contemporary life.

The existing building, Alumni Memorial Hall, sits on a prominent corner where the University campus and the city of Ann Arbor come together. To Alumni Memorial Hall's Beaux-Arts solidity, the new wing will add a counterpoint of contemporary architecture that energizes the original museum. The addition will draw users into the new galleries and public spaces including a new cafe, museum shop, classrooms and a 225-seat auditorium.

The new building — named The Maxine and Stuart Frankel and The Frankel Family Wing for the project's lead benefactors — uses structure to integrate elegantly with its surroundings. Three cantilevered structural arms pinwheel around a triple height vertical gallery, unfolding outward toward campus and uniting the building in plan and section.

The Museum's mission of transparency and welcome is physically represented and reinforced through the openness afforded by the cantilevers and the views into (and out from) the public, gallery and educational spaces. The vertical gallery provides views toward each of the three arms, orienting the visitor with glimpses into the varied collections galleries on all levels.

Web Site

Visit the University of Michigan Museum of Art's web site for further information about the expansion at www.umma.umich.edu .

Media Contacts For UMMA: For Allied Works Architecture: Lynnette J. Werning, APR Elizabeth Harrison Kubany Blue Water Communications LLC EHKPR 419.386.5810 973.761.4117 lynnette@bluewatercommunications.biz elizabeth@ehkpr.com

SOURCE University of Michigan Museum of Art

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