The expansion will add 82,452 square feet of galleries and public space, while linking the Museum more closely with Forest Park through a design by French landscape architect Michel Desvigne. It will also increase the Museum’s public space by 30% and add more than 300 parking spaces, as well as a new, fully accessible entrance on Fine Arts Drive.
The landscape design, which will be executed in phases, features the installation of outdoor sculptures by artists including Alexander Calder, Henry Moore and George Rickey. The installation work will be completed after June 2013.
The 200,000-square-foot expanded building includes dark polished concrete-and-stone panels and floor-to-ceiling windows. One of the new feature in the East Building will be a 2,500-square-foot restaurant. Bon Appétit Management Company will operate the new restaurant and the new Museum cafe.
Other amenities offered as part of the expansion project include a renovated museum shop, a renovation and upgrade of the 480-seat auditorium, the provision of three new classrooms, a dedicated art-study space and a school-group entrance in the existing buildings and the development of a new 129,000-square-foot below-grade parking garage in the East Building, accommodating 300 vehicles.
The Museum’s collections span some 5,000 years and feature masterpieces from the ancient Mediterranean, Asia, Africa, the Islamic world, Europe and the Americas.
