US Museum Unveils Plans for $79m Upgrade

The Speed Art Museum located in Louisville, Kentucky, US, has unveiled plans for a $79m renovation and expansion project.

The project has been designed by wHY Architecture.

The designs include a new annex building in addition to renovations to the old building to make it more user-friendly.

The new building, which will stretch over an area of 4,900m², will be covered in a glass skin.

The building will house galleries, a restaurant, auditorium, museum, shop and entrances to collections in the original building.

The renovation and expansion will be executed in three phases with the first phase slated to begin in mid 2011 and reach completion by the end of 2015.

The second phase of the project will include renovation of the existing building including skylights and adjacent grounds while the third phase will see the construction of a new 460m² building on the south side of the museum grounds.