Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Complementing a Beaux-Arts Spirit to Meet Today’s Demands

How do you update a landmark museum that draws more than 1 million visitors a year and houses one of the country’s largest art collections? To paraphrase the review by the Boston Globe, “humanely and thoughtfully.”

Working with Foster + Partners and Childs Bertman Tseckares, we provided structural design for the Art of the Americas Wing, which encompasses significant expansion and renovation to the museum. The 240,000-square-foot project was completed in 2010.

Highlights

• To bring visitors directly into the heart of the complex and improve navigation among the various wings, the renovation reestablishes the north-south axis of the MFA’s century-old building on Huntington Avenue.
• The expansion and renovation also integrates the museum more completely with the Back Bay Fens portion of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace, a chain of nine Boston parks.
• The Art of the Americas Wing accommodates 5,000 works—more than doubling the number previously on view.
• The expansion increases the building’s area by 28 percent, adding new space for collections, exhibitions and educational programs.