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SO – IL presents designs for their new Williams College Museum of Art expansion

2024-03-08T13:48:00-05:00

SO – IL’s plans for an extension of the Williams College Museum of Art in western Massachusetts have been made public as the institution prepares to house its important collection in a free-standing and purpose-built new home for the first time in its 100-year history.

The project will enhance the museum’s mission as an on-campus educational resource while creating a new gateway between the college and the community of Williamstown.

SO – IL says they envision their plan to culminate in 2027. When it does, the project will yield a total of 15,000 square feet worth of new gallery spaces in a three-story structure that houses a 6,400-square-foot study center, auditorium, art studios, and a café. Reed Hilderbrand will be included to complete the project's landscaping. The project was announced in 2021 following a two-year programming study that was made in consultation with TenBerke through the pandemic.

Image credit: Jeudi.Wang, courtesy SO–IL and the Williams College Museum of Art

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SO – IL will design a new building for the vaunted Williams College Museum of Art

2022-06-03T08:50:00-04:00

One of the leading academic art museums in the country has announced SO – IL will head a new expansion effort that will deliver the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) with the first stand-alone structure in the institution’s storied history.

Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu’s team is now tasked with the tremendous opportunity to develop a concept design for a new structure that will provide upgrade facilities to the museum’s collection, which has been housed since its inception in historic Lawrence Hall. A renovation of the existing building is being explored as well.

The partners referred to it as a “project the brings together our passion for the arts with our commitment to education.” They will look to build upon a cultural portfolio that includes UC Davis’ Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art and the award-winning new Amant Art Campus in Brooklyn and promise the new construction “wi...