The new Museum includes important new features.
With the historic preservation of the Museum’s current North Wing (the 1926 Pack Library building) and the renovation of existing Museum spaces and new construction, we have transformed prior disparate spaces into a new cohesive, coherent, and inviting Museum. The new Museum elegantly combines historic and contemporary elements. It honors the past with the restoration of the Pack Library building, an Asheville landmark built in 1926, and it steps into the future as a 21st-century architectural landmark in downtown Asheville with a visually stunning new front façade, entrance, and plaza.
This “fly-through” animation video shows features of the New Museum.
Encompassing 54,000 square feet that will be preserved, renovated, or rebuilt, this sustainable project will result in:
- new exhibition galleries
- a well-equipped education suite of classrooms and studios
- expanded Collection storage
- a larger library
- the addition of a rooftop sculpture terrace and café
- critical upgrades to HVAC, lighting, and technology systems
The exterior will be sheathed in glass—inviting the public into art-filled spaces—and lighted at night to illuminate Pack Square Park and the city center. To meet the needs of a growing and increasingly culturally-aware community and visitors to the area:
- Collection gallery space will increase by 70%;
- special changing exhibition space will double;
- education programs will have more than twice the amount of studio and classroom space, plus a media-ready multipurpose space for public programs
The Museum’s expansion will increase our capacity to serve diverse audiences and generate economic impact throughout the region. The Museum’s physical expansion will extend its role as a community center, educational resource, visitor center, and cultural concierge for all residents of WNC and the many visitors to our region.
