ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN.- The Regents of the University of Michigan have chosen Allied Works Architecture to oversee a major expansion and renovation of the University of Michigan Museum of Art. The $35 million project will include a 55,000 square foot addition, as well as a complete renovation of the existing facility. The University also announced two major gifts, $5 million from an anonymous donor, and $1 million from Robert and Lillian Montalto Bohlen of Brighton, Michigan, toward the total cost of the project.

The expansion will increase the overall size of the Museum from 41,676 square feet to 95,396 square feet and will more than double the Museum’s existing space. It will include the renovation of the elegant Beaux-Arts style building on the "Diag," the historic heart of the University’s main campus in Ann Arbor Michigan. The new addition will house additional gallery space, an auditorium, classrooms, and improved visitor amenities.

The Museum plans to finance the project largely through private support. The museum will undertake a public fundraising campaign for the project in 2004 when the University kicks off an institution-wide capital campaign next spring. Construction will begin when fundraising is complete.

"The many ways in which the University Museum of Art connects to our academic mission make it a unique asset for our students, faculty and the public," said University President Mary Sue Coleman. "The museum is a vibrant asset and increasingly an educational partner with academic programs across campus. As demonstrated so clearly by the St. Petersburg tricentennial, the museum plays a significant role in supporting interdisciplinary learning and engaging the community in the visual arts." She said the proposed project will provide much needed space for exhibitions, archives and educational opportunities.

"This project will give the University an art museum facility equal to the stature of its collections and exhibitions, and restates the University’s commitment to leadership in the visual arts," said James Steward, director of the Museum. "The Museum of Art will be literally and figuratively at the heart of the University enterprise, serving as a gateway to our Central Campus both for our students and the broader community. I am delighted that a project of this stature, on such a visible site, will be in the hands of an accomplished architect."
 
The Donors - Bob Bohlen, chairman of PreviewProperties.com and Anyi Management Co., real estate related enterprises, addressed his decision to support the Museum expansion project by saying: "Our gift to the University of Michigan Museum of Art stems from my belief in the visionary leadership of director James Steward. I am not a graduate of Michigan nor is my wife, Lillian, but under James’s direction, we see the opportunity to propel Michigan to the front ranks of all museums-not just university art museums. Because its core mission is to educate, UMMA has been able to take on risks and challenges that are simply not possible in most civic museums."

"We are extraordinarily grateful to those who have already stepped forward in support of this project, and to those we know will soon make a commitment, for their belief in this Museum’s ability to create a vibrant environment for engagement with the visual arts," said Steward. "These donors envision a Museum that will be second to none in its ability to cut across boundaries and bridge our multiple audiences."
 
The Architect - Portland-based Allied Works Architecture, founded by principal Brad Cloepfil in 1994, recently completed its first new freestanding cultural facility in the United States with the September 2003 opening of the new Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. The awarding of the University of Michigan Museum of Art project marks the fourth museum commission Allied Works Architecture has received in the past five years. The firm recently garnered national attention with commissions for the redesign of Two Columbus Circle in New York City-the Edward Durell Stone Structure popularly known as the Huntington Hartford Gallery-as the new quarters for the Museum of Arts and Design (formerly the American Craft Museum), and a dramatic expansion of the Seattle Art Museum. The Wall Street Journal recently singled out Cloepfil as a "rising star whose buildings seek to complement rather than shout down their environments."

"Allied Works Architecture is now doing some of the most refined museum buildings in the United States," said Steward. "From their first buildings in Portland, Oregon, I have admired Allied’s ability to combine a warm and elegant minimalism with great sensitivity to historically significant structures."

From the firm’s first projects, Cloepfil set a standard for pursuing challenging and conceptually rich work. The firm’s design for the headquarters of the Portland-based advertising firm Wieden + Kennedy was a winner of the Business Week/Architectural Records Awards. Other current firm projects include the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas, which is part of a new downtown cultural district that will include major buildings by Frank Gehry, Sir Norman Foster, and Renzo Piano.

"This is a very exciting and challenging project, one that encompasses restoring and reinvigorating the existing Alumni Memorial Hall while creating a new dynamic addition for the arts on campus. It provides the unique opportunity to create a thoughtful and delicate dialogue between historical and contemporary architecture, to forge a singular new identity for the Museum of Art, yet with multiple purposes and perceptions," said project architect Brad Cloepfil. "The University is poised to create a new museum type-one that is completely interactive with the life of the campus, a destination for cultural and social interaction, and a ’front porch’ to the University. It could not be a more inspiring architectural project."

Allied Works Architecture was chosen following a rigorous selection process in which a number of leading U.S. and international firms were considered. A broad review of credentials was followed by a request for proposals that went to 15 firms; from these, four finalists were selected for interview in June.

"Allied Works Architecture stood out for their understanding of the programmatic needs of the expansion and for their subtle consideration of the site," said Steward. "The selection committee was particularly excited to work with someone like Brad who truly embraces the special role of a university museum, and how the shape of a building can give form to what will happen within it."
 
The Project  - The expansion and renovation will enable the Museum of Art to respond to the increased public interest and attendance experienced in recent years. Attendance has risen by fifty percent since 1997, from an average annual attendance of approximately 80,000 to an anticipated 130,000 visitors in 2003. Physical limitations of the building prohibit the Museum from displaying more than 3 or 4 percent of its collections of some 16,000 works of art at any one time and provide inadequate space for temporary exhibitions and educational activities.

Equally important will be the enhancement of the contribution that the Museum makes to the academic mission of the University. The Museum of Art serves as a research and teaching resource for disciplines across the University, but the lack of secure classroom and study spaces prohibits many teaching and research opportunities from drawing on original works of art.

The Museum of Art is situated in a prime location, at an entrance to the "Diag" at the heart of the historic Ann Arbor campus. Its highly visible setting, stately architecture, and origins as a war memorial lend the structure an emotional status associated with few other campus buildings. Expansion of the Museum of Art will follow a mandate to preserve the integrity of the original building, including restoring many original architectural features. According to director Steward, "We expect the expansion to respond sensitively to site considerations while providing an opportunity for a landmark design that will reflect the Museum’s renewed vibrancy."