University Museum

Project Manager: Alan Rubacha
Architect: Atkin, Olshin, Lawson-Bell Architects of Philadelphia, PA
Project Description:  Renovations/Additions to 265 High Street
Construction Start Date: to be determined
Current Status: Schematic Design - Fund Raising - Coordination

Project Details, as of November, 2005:

The Museum Committee welcomed a new chair and Museum Director, John Paoletti, at our meeting of April 20, 2005 and thanked LiLy Milroy for her terrific leadership.

With John's leadership and AOL-B's expertise we continued the review of the exterior elevations and the central stair.  AOL-B made several exciting modifications that the committee discussed and commented to.  With critical feedback in hand from the committee AOL-B will finalize the schematic design and provide fundraising materials to John.

The images below will show the project at its current stage, but we fully expect changes to the plans that will make its exterior to the west even more dynamic and its interior spaces even more useful for teaching and exhibitions.

Site Plan

East elevation


West elevation- This facade will face the new Usdan University Center & Andrus Field. The massing of the structure will give the building a distinctive character on the campus and signal the excitement of the educational processes occurring within.  It will also tie the building to the masses of the CFA across Wyllys Avenue and activate movement along the axis between the University Museum and the Usdan University Center that is designed as a new formal entry into the center of the campus.




Interior cross-section


Approximating nighttime character of the building.  This view gives some indication of the atrium that will rise through the center of the Museum.  The entrance from College Row can be seen at the rear and will allow viewers to look from the Row directly into the heart of the building.  The stairway will drive viewers' attention to the second floor of the building where there are study spaces for the print, archaeology, ethnography, musical instruments and Asian collections, as well as classrooms, labs, and storage spaces.  The stairway to the third story and the major exhibition spaces of the building will push the west wall of the building dynamically outwards and will be visible through the translucent glass wall that extends the entire height of the structure between the two flights of stairs.


East-West cross section of the model. This view shows the openness of the interior of the Museum and the filtered light that suffuses its spaces. In addition to museum offices, the 1st floor will have a 115-seat auditorium, a small focus gallery, and, most likely, video monitors for exhibiting new media both in the building and projecting out of the building. The 3rd floor spaces will contain three gallery spaces of varying sizes and glass enclosed seating and study areas that will look out over the campus to the north and south.