Bruce Museum reopens following significant renovation and expansion
Congratulations to The Bruce Museum on the debut of a three-story, 43,000-square-foot addition that will more than double the size of the Museum, adding state-of-the-art exhibition galleries for art and science and new education and community spaces, including a restaurant and auditorium.
Reed Hilderbrand partnered with New Orleans architects EskewDumezRipple for the 2013-2014 design competition that led to the concept for the expansion. The new building addition opens directly onto Bruce Park and feature a delicate striated façade of cast stone and glass inspired by the surfaces of Connecticut’s quarries and the rock outcrops.
“Our work amplifies this inspiring landscape’s character — undulating topography, impressive rock outcroppings, mature canopy trees — while also embedding within it an expanded visitor experience for the Bruce,” says Senior Associate Stephanie Pierce. “A new courtyard at the center of the Great Hall frames for visitors the essential character of Connecticut’s coastal landscape and its vegetation. A multi-purpose entry plaza is a venue for exterior events and a seating area for the new Museum café. A new pedestrian walkway draws visitors through the site and encourages an appreciation for those unique natural features and an expanded exterior art collection. The landscape serves also to re-orient the Museum relative to the surrounding parkland and the wider Greenwich community.”
