The new Chazen Museum of Art was conceived as a substantial addition and expansion to the 1970 Harry Weese-designed Elvehjem Museum of Art. The mission of the consolidated museum is to collect, preserve, interpret and exhibit works of art, and support related educational programs that promote the teaching, research and public service mission of the University. To create a seamless expansion, the upper gallery plan of the existing museum is replicated on the opposite side of a central pedestrian mall. The two sides are connected via a new bridge gallery over the mall, creating a clear sequence of galleries and a fitting grand gateway to the University from the south. The new facility`s lower floor employs generous structural glass walls and high ceilings to create a clear entrance and seamless connection to a new courtyard along the refurbished pedestrian mall. This courtyard`s paving continues into the main lobby space to emphasize a strong relationship between indoor and out. Its stone floor dynamically rises and folds to form a grand public stair providing access to the levels above. As a teaching museum, the addition includes a 140-seat auditorium, art classroom, print and object study rooms, and art preparatory facilities, all of which are highly accessible to the public and students alike, to encourage and promote visual literacy. Copper-clad monitors make up the addition`s roofscape and serve to bring natural light to the permanent galleries at the upper level, taking their cues from the existing museum while offering a dynamic roofscape among the variety of campus domes and spires.
