FACTSLeft=tower crane removed as crews near completion of exterior: Right=decorative arches in south courtyard

Architect
Design Architect: Thomas Beeby of Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge Inc. of Chicago
Architect of Record: SRG Partnership of Portland
General Contractor: Wildish Building Company of Eugene

Schedule
The art museum broke ground on their renovation and expansion project in the fall of 2002. The new Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is scheduled to reopen to the public in January 2005. Take a Look Inside for more details.

Scale
The new museum will nearly double in size. For more information on the exciting features of the new building, visit the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

The design of the Chicago firm, Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge, revitalizes the revered structure while also respecting its historically important architectural elements and spaces. The presence of natural light in the new spaces, as well as in the beloved Campbell Memorial Courtyard, creates an inviting sense of openness and energy within the museum.

Budget
The museum’s $14.2 million renovation and expansion project is partially supported by the State of Oregon, which awarded the project $6.36 million in state-serviced bonds. These funds were matched, beyond the requirement, through a combination of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Paul Allen, Donald R. Barker, and Chambers Family foundations. Several estate gifts and more than 750 individual donations also contributed to the project.

The museum is currently undergoing a Phase II campaign for $1.2 million to complete the installation of the Asian galleries and to purchase items such as office furniture, exhibition furniture, gallery lighting, and computers needed to fully complete the project.

Exhibitions
Collections galleries will be enhanced with a provocative series of special exhibitions and a full complement of inviting programs. Watch for the following exhibitions:

*Andy Warhol (winter 2005)
*University of Oregon Master of Fine Arts Exhibition (spring 2005)
*Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Landscape Photography (summer 2005)

Why was the renovation and expansion necessary?
Constructed during the Great Depression, the museum was reduced to one-third of its originally intended size due to lack of funding in difficult economic times. Completed in 1932, the 32,000 square foot building was already too small for the original collection of 3,000 works of art. Throughout the years, space issues have increased exponentially, as the same building currently houses over 12,500 works and received an average of 40,000 to 50,000 visitors per year before closing in September 2000 to prepare for this project.

The building also has critical deficiencies in collections storage, climate control, and staff workspaces. It still has much of its original electrical wiring, humidity and temperature control system, and installation furnishings. The building could no longer keep pace with modern museum practices or provide a safe environment for our art collection.

Increasingly aware of these problems, university leaders joined with museum board members and administrators to launch the Museum Campaign for the renovation and expansion of the museum. After successfully completing the $14.2 million campaign in spring 2002, the Museum of Art began this long awaited and much anticipated project.

The expanded gallery space and upgraded systems will enable the new Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art to show a much greater percentage of its collection, to borrow important pieces of art, and to host significant traveling exhibitions.


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