Listen
Video of the new campus for MFAH
More than $330 million has been donated so far by just 86 families and foundations to transform 14 acres into a new campus for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The Who’s Who of Houston were on hand at a special event to unveil the architectural plans and raise civic awareness for the project.
There’s still another $100 million to be raised for the museum’s endowment.
MFAH Director Gary Tinterow says about ten years ago two major donations of art and money doubled the size of the museum’s operating budget and the budget for acquiring art.
“We have thousands of works of 20th and 21st century art that we’ve been squirreling away, and they’re all going to come out. It’s going to be a revelation for our community and for the art world at large,” Tinterow said.
The Museum will add a new 164,000 square foot gallery building in addition to the two existing galleries. They’re also adding new sculpture gardens, doubling the size of the Glassell School of Art, creating an art conservation center, adding restaurants and building underground parking garages.
Steven Holl, the principal architect, says the density of the Museum District helped him design a pedestrian-friendly campus.
“You’ll be able to walk between the different museum buildings on the campus. And you’ll have the sense of the sculpture garden being central, you’ll have a view from the new restaurant right onto the Noguchi design sculpture garden. And from the new Glassell, a roof terrace that looks down onto the whole campus, Holl said. “So the closeness of the pieces and parts make it even better.”
Museum leaders say the new campus will be complete in 2019.
