A comprehensive masterplan designed to rejuvenate and expand the Cincinnati Art Museum in Ohio, US, has been approved by the museum’s board of trustees.
The plan calls for the reorganisation and renovation of a substantial part of the present facility and recommends that the site should expand by around 110,000sq ft (10,200sq m).
Other changes include relocating the museum’s main entrance; relocating the special exhibitions gallery; the construction of a new education centre; reducing the broadway encircling the building as well as the restoration of the Great Hall and the Schmidlapp Memorial.
The planning process took a year to complete and included an extensive study of current space and future requirements, analysis of museum peers around the country and community input sessions.
Preliminary estimates of the cost of the renovation programme total US$125m (103m euro, £72m) and the work is expected to take around 20 years to complete.
Phil Vollmer, president of the board of trustees, said: “We now have a road map which will guide us during the exploration of funding, timing and architectural options in coming years.”
“The community will continue to be invited to participate in the planning and realization of this transformation of their community’s art museum.”
One of the aims of the museum is to utilise the collection more effectively in exhibitions and programmes designed for schoolchildren and families.
Located in the city’s Eden Park, the Cincinnati Art Museum features a collection of more than 60,000 pieces of art and hosts a number of travelling exhibitions each year.
