In Greenwich, Conn., the Bruce Museum, a multidisciplinary institution highlighting art, science, and history, has undergone a campus revitalization and expansion that more than doubles the museum’s size.
Designed by EskewDumezRipple and built by Turner Construction, the project includes a 42,000-sf, three-floor addition as well as a comprehensive renovation of the 32,500-sf museum, which was originally built as a private home in the mid-19th century and expanded in the early 1990s.
The project provides permanent and changing galleries, expanded collection storage, education spaces, public gathering places, and a public entrance lobby. A new lecture hall serves as a hub for community programming, public lectures, and receptions.
“We can host the community in a way we’ve never been able to before,” Robert Wolterstorff, executive director, Bruce Museum, said in a statement. “In the past, we had no permanent collections galleries.”
The project reorients the museum’s entrance so that, instead of facing a highway, it now faces the free and public Bruce Park. The double-height lobby, café, and gift shop form an open, free-flowing public area, and a new courtyard joins the existing museum to the addition.
EskewDumezRipple’s design draws inspiration from both the historic stone house and the surrounding region’s geology. The striated façade of cast stone and glass evokes the Connecticut coast’s rock quarries, and the façade changes appearance as the sun changes position depending on the time of day and year. The design emphasizes natural daylighting, with openings in the façade providing light to the interior that gradually recedes deeper in the galleries.
The energy-efficient design includes an airtight façade, highly efficient air-handling units, a dehumidification system, and a stormwater management system that collects 100% of rainwater onsite. The museum has a predicted Energy Use Intensity (EUI), or the amount of energy used per square foot annually, of 63, in contrast to an EUI of 186 for similar museums in the northeast US, according to the statement.
On the Building Team:
Owner: Bruce Museum
Owner’s representative: Stone Harbor Land Company
Architecture and interiors: EskewDumezRipple
Contractor: Turner Construction
Landscape architect: Reed Hilderbrand
Structural engineering: Guy Nordenson and Associates
MEP engineering: Altieri
Civil engineering: Redniss & Mead
Geotechnical: Melick-Tully and Associates
Lighting: Fisher Marantz Stone
Acoustics and A/V: Jaffe Holden
Envelope: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Aug 19, 2022
2022 Giants 400 Report: Tracking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
Now 46 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 519 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
| Aug 19, 2022
Manassas Museum renovated to reimagine a civic design & engage the community
Manassas, VA has recently added to its historic Manassas Museum.
Cultural Facilities | Aug 5, 2022
A time and a place: Telling American stories through architecture
As the United States enters the year 2026, it will commence celebrating a cycle of Sestercentennials, or 250th anniversaries, of historic and cultural events across the land.
Museums | Jul 11, 2022
Denmark opens a museum that tells the stories of refugees worldwide
Located on the site of Denmark’s largest World War II refugee camp, the new Refugee Museum of Denmark, FLUGT, tells the stories of refugees from the camp as well as refugees worldwide.
Museums | Jun 28, 2022
The California Science Center breaks grounds on its Air and Space Center
The California Science Center—a hands-on science center in Los Angeles—recently broke ground on its Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.
Museums | May 31, 2022
University of Texas at Dallas breaks ground on new 12-acre cultural district
The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) recently broke ground on the Crow Museum of Asian Art, the first phase of a new 12-acre cultural district on campus.
Museums | Mar 16, 2022
Unpacking the secrets to good museum storage
Museum leaders should focus as much design attention on the archives as the galleries themselves, according to a new white paper by Erin Flynn and Bruce Davis, architects and museum experts with the firm Cooper Robertson.
Projects | Mar 2, 2022
Construction nears completion on $1B Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo
At an estimated budget of $1 billion, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is considered the largest museum in the world dedicated to one civilization. The superlatives don’t end there: It’s also the largest museum in Egypt, the largest Pharaonic museum in the world, and one of the world’s leading scientific, historical, and archeological study centers.
Museums | Feb 25, 2022
Virginia Museum of History and Culture set to reopen after 18-month renovation
Expanded exhibits present new learning approaches.
University Buildings | Feb 18, 2022
On-campus performing arts centers and museums can be talent magnets for universities
Cultural facilities are changing the way prospective students and parents view higher education campuses.
