With a budget of $135 million the project has increased the space occupied by the museum - the 1953 structure designed by Louis Kahn and approximately half of the 1928 "Old Yale Art Gallery", designed by Egerton Swartwout-. The project has united the three buildings into a cohesive whole while maintaining the distinctive architectural identity of each.
The Gallery now contains 69,975 square feet of exhibition space, compared to 40,266 square feet prior to the expansion, and occupies the length of one-and-a-half city blocks. With new areas for exhibitions and object study, combined with a comprehensive plan for public and educational programming, the expansion enables vastly increased access to the Gallery’s encyclopedic collections.
Planning for the renovation of the Gallery began in 1998, and the first phase of construction—restoration of the landmark Kahn building—commenced in 2003. Completed in December 2006, this returned the building, which is widely considered to be the architect’s first masterpiece, to its original purity and integrity, while introducing up-to-date building systems.
Architects: Ennead Architects
Location: New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Project Year: 2012
