North Carolina Museum of Art breaks ground on $138 million expansion

The North Carolina Museum of Art will break ground in October on its much anticipated expansion project, designed by up and coming New York Architect, Thomas Phifer. A native of South Carolina, Phifer spent a decade as a design partner at Richard Meier’s office before founding his own firm, Phifer and Partners in 1997. The expansion initiative will add 127,000 square foot of galleries and public space housed in a single-storey glass and steel sky lit pavilion to the 164-acre site and transform an existing building, designed by Edward Durell Stone, into a center for temporary exhibitions, collections management, education and administration. In addition to the buildings, landscape architect Peter Walker will create lyrical gardens, outdoor galleries and a network of bike trails and walking paths for what is reputed to be America’s largest art museum park. The project is scheduled to open to the public in 2009.