FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Springfield, MO. (January 24, 2018) – The Springfield Art Museum is pleased to announce that it has hired BNIM to develop a master plan for the Museum’s building and grounds. The Museum is proud to celebrate 90 years of service to southwest Missouri in 2018. Recent significant growth in visitorship, increased demand for expansion of services, and aging/outdated educational facilities have required Museum leadership to strategically plan for the next 90 years of service to the community.
In August of 2017, the Art Museum Board, with the backing of a generous anonymous donor, issued a Request For Qualifications for firms, or teams of firms, who could provide professional services for the creation of a master plan focused on three areas: renovation, replacement, and/or expansion of the existing Education Wing, renovation of the existing building to improve visitor experience and develop administrative spaces, and improvements to the grounds to better connect the Museum to surrounding amenities including historic Phelps Grove Park and the nearby Waterwise Garden.
BNIM, with offices in Kansas City, Des Moines, and San Diego, was selected from a pool of talented and well-respected applicants. Founded in 1970, BNIM received the 2011 AIA National Architecture Firm Award and can be recognized from their iconic work on the Bloch Building Addition and Bloch Impressionist Galleries at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas City Ballet's Todd Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity, The University of Iowa Museum of Art and Visual Arts Building, and the Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts. BNIM was also responsible for “greening” projects at both the White House and the Pentagon.
Museum Director Nick Nelson notes, “We were particularly impressed with BNIM’s proven track record in working with art institutions within a municipal structure. Equally exciting, is their practice of extending the museum experience to the outdoors and surrounding natural amenities. Having a firm of their recognized abilities, being ranked within the top 20 national firms in the categories of design and sustainability, speaks to the quality and stewardship we value as an institution. We are confident that this master plan will carry these values forward into the next 90 years.”
As the Museum moves through the master planning process, a number of community listening sessions and stakeholder meetings will be held to help identify unanticipated needs and inform the work of BNIM. Final concepts are anticipated in the spring of 2018. The Springfield Art Museum located at 1111 East Brookside Drive. Admission is always free. Donations are gratefully accepted.
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The Springfield Art Museum is Springfield, Missouri’s oldest cultural institution, founded in 1928. A department of the City of Springfield, the Museum invites you to connect with the world, your community, and yourself through active engagement with art objects. For more information, please visit www.sgfmuseum.org