ROANOKE, VA.- The Art Museum of Western Virginia announced today that the erection of steel for Element 3 of the new Art Museum facility has been completed and that the erection of steel for Element 2 will be completed within the next two weeks. Completion of Element 2 will be followed by the erection of structural steel for Elements 4, 5, 6 and 1 in quick succession. Continued placement of concrete ground floor slabs will follow the erection of steel for each element.

Element 3 of the building design houses the library, boardroom, boardroom terrace, director’s office, temporary galleries, Art Venture, and a portion of the café. Element 2 houses the first floor auditorium, theater and lobby, equipment platforms, primary mechanical spaces, and the second floor art galleries, including the contemporary gallery. Element 4 houses back of house mechanical rooms, housekeeping areas, art storage and the catering kitchen, third floor reception and administrative offices, and several small galleries, including the prints and photography, regional decorative arts, Leiber handbag collection, and modernism galleries. Elements 5 and 6 together house the art loading and service docks, new media gallery and American art gallery. Element 1, the final element to be erected, houses the atrium and lobby, concourse, museum store, and a portion of the café.

As progress continues on Element 2, kinked primary structural beams will be put into place and the sweeping curves of the new Art Museum facility’s roof will begin to take shape. The roof structural steel system will be erected after the building’s primary structural steel is completed.

The new Art Museum building’s steel structure design originated as a 3-D CAD model and was then converted into 2-D fabrication drawings. The new building’s steel was fabricated using the approved 2-D drawings and delivered to the new Art Museum site. Each piece of structural steel is customized, numbered and then pieced together when it arrives on site.