Situated adjacent to the original 1967 University Art Museum, a replica of an antebellum plantation home designed by noted Louisiana architect A. Hays Town, this new 33,000sf museum serves as a backdrop to the original building and defines the edge of a new sculpture garden and plaza.
Conceived as a tightly wrapped solid, the construction module of the new museum responds to the structural rhythm of the original building while clearly departing in material and treatment. The new building’s glass façade hovers above visitors entering the museum, reflecting in its surface the existing Hays Town Building and live oaks of the surrounding sculpture gardens. Depending on position and time of day, the glass façade oscillates between opaque and transparent, constantly reflecting the original museum in its façade. At night the project is rendered in a deep blue light through the use of cold cathode tubes located above perforated metal ceilings in contrast to the more traditional lighting utilized on the older building.
