US$190 million has been given in funding to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts which is expected to have an expansion featuring a new wing of the Richmond museum and will be designed by SmithGroup, a Detroit-based firm. The new wing will provide space for African art, photography, and 21st-century works, and construction is expected to begin within the next two years and be completed by 2025. This is the museum’s fifth expansion since its 1936 opening and the first since its largest expansion, which ended in 2010 following five years of construction, resulting in the James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin Wing.
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According to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the new wing will add 100,000 square feet to the current 650,000-square-foot facility, in addition to a new, 40,000-square-foot Collections Center building that will house the museum’s conservation program and art storage. The project also will include renovations to about 45,000 square feet of the current building. There will also be changes to the former library, which will become a photography, prints, and drawing study center known as the Frank Raysor Center. There also will be a special events space with dining facilities and room for up to 500 guests, and the existing museum will have updates to its theater and the original entrance facing Arthur Ashe Boulevard.
“We are thrilled to have SmithGroup on board and excited to collaborate with their visionary team on this exciting building project. The firm has demonstrated expertise in planning and designing dynamic, engaging museum environments. SmithGroup’s spirit of collaboration; its profound commitment to the same values that guide VMFA equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility; its firsthand knowledge of Richmond and Virginia; and its drive for innovation make them an exceptional choice for VMFA’s ambitious expansion and renovation project.” VMFA Director and CEO Alex Nyerges said in a statement.
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