Design for the Expansion and Renovation of Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Revealed

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) has revealed a series of architectural renderings showing what the museum will look like after it undergoes the largest expansion and renovation project in its history, designed by SmithGroup. The renderings of the planned transformation illustrate the scale of the expanded galleries that will enhance the visitor experience.

The new 173,000-square-foot McGlothlin Wing II expands the museum to the south and west sides of the existing building and adds a fifth floor. Reinterpreting the classicism and post modernism architectural modes of the existing building, the expansion features a fluted concrete and glass facade that plays with natural light to cast dynamic shadows and invite curiosity and exploration.

Gently curved high-performance glass reconnects the Commonwealth's museum to its surroundings, blurring the boundary between the museum's interior and exterior. This expansive glazing will allow visitors to simultaneously view both the museum's natural surroundings and works of art. Scalloped concrete panels are patterned in varying widths to create a human-scaled softness on the exterior.

"The new expansion erodes the traditional boundaries of the museum to welcome and engage visitors before they ever step inside," explains lead designer Dayton Schroeter, a design director at SmithGroup. "It actively invites the public to linger, explore and experience art as part of everyday life—both inside and outside the museum."

About the Expansion and Renovation

Inside the McGlothlin Wing II, the fluted motif is repeated in warm wood paneled niches and interior amenity spaces providing an elegant transition between the transparent facade and the galleries within. The new wing contains expanded galleries for African, American, Indigenous American, and 20th- and 21st-century art, while gallery spaces for European art and photography will be in the renovation of the existing building, enabling the museum to show far more of its permanent collection.

Additional spaces in the new wing for special exhibitions, events, and a cafe-bar will also enable VMFA to welcome more visitors and provide more enjoyment through blockbuster special exhibitions, public programs, performances, and increased dining options.

"The new look of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will reflect our commitment to openness and community engagement," said Director and CEO Alex Nyerges. "The expansion's architecture and design are expressions of our ongoing intention to be a welcoming space for all. We want all visitors to see themselves here."

Community-Influenced Design

Since gaining the support of the Governor and the General Assembly in 2021, VMFA and SmithGroup have actively worked together to engage internal stakeholders and the community, seeking a better understanding of the visitor experience and of the public's vision for the museum. As a core tenet of SmithGroup's design approach, the firm and museum collaborated to facilitate multiple two-way listening sessions to engage a diverse range of individuals, groups and communities from the Commonwealth during the discovery phase of the project. In addition, more than 3,500 people also participated in the museum's survey.

SmithGroup's team of museum design experts then interpreted this invaluable community input into the final design, to signal VMFA's commitment to openness and accessibility through the architecture. The community expressed an interest in improving accessibility and wayfinding, connectivity between indoor and outdoor spaces, additional spaces for pause and reflection, the activation and preservation of the sculpture garden, and beautiful, yet functional, architecture that blends with the rest of the museum building.

Project Data

This landmark building project marks the fifth expansion project that VMFA has undertaken since its opening in 1936. One of the top ten comprehensive art museums in the U.S., and the only art museum open to the public 365 days a year, VMFA currently comprises 718,831 square feet.

The newly planned McGlothlin Wing II will comprise approximately 173,000 square feet of new gallery spaces for American art (approximately 30,000 square feet), African art (approximately 8,600 square feet), contemporary art (approximately 12,400 square feet), a special events space that seats 500 people, meeting rooms, a cafe and bar, and a second special exhibition gallery suite (approximately 12,000 square feet).

The project will also renovate approximately 45,000 square feet of existing gallery space in the 1936, 1970 and 2010 wings highlighted by approximately 5,500 square feet of new gallery space for photography and approximately 7,000 square feet for the Raysor Center for Works on Paper. There will also be expanded galleries for European art from Medieval to Impressionism.

The scale of the expanded galleries will elevate the museum in national rankings. VMFA's space for African art will be the second largest among all comprehensive art museums in the United States. The galleries dedicated to American art and photography will be the fourth largest, respectively, in the nation.

VMFA's campus is being prepared for construction, with groundbreaking for the expansion anticipated in summer 2026. The museum will remain open to visitors throughout construction. The McGlothlin Wing II is scheduled to open to the public in 2029.

SmithGroup is providing holistic and integrated design services for the expansion and renovation project,  including architecture, interior architecture, MEP engineering, lighting design, and fire protection and life safety engineering. Gilbane Building Company (Richmond) is the general contractor for the project. Other design partners include Sorba Engineering (Dulles, Virginia) as civil engineer; Lynch Mykins Structural Engineers (Norfolk, Virginia) as structural engineer; Rhodeside & Harwell, Inc. (Alexandria, Virginia) as landscape architect; and C.M. Kling & Associates, Inc. (Alexandria, Virginia) as associate lighting designer.

 

For more information about SmithGroup, please see our Company Fact Sheet.

About the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, is one of the largest comprehensive art museums in the United States. VMFA, which opened in 1936, is a state agency and privately endowed educational institution. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art, and to encourage the study of the arts. Through the Office of Statewide Partnerships Program, the museum offers curated exhibitions, arts-related audiovisual programs, symposia, lectures, conferences, and workshops by visual and performing artists. In addition to presenting a wide array of special exhibitions, the museum provides visitors with the opportunity to experience a global collection of art that spans more than 6,000 years. VMFA’s permanent holdings encompass more than 50,000 artworks, including the largest public collection of Fabergé outside of Russia, the finest collection of Art Nouveau outside of Paris and one of the nation’s finest collections of American art. VMFA is also home to important collections of Chinese art, English silver, French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, British sporting and modern and contemporary art, as well as renowned South Asian, Himalayan and African art. In May 2010, VMFA opened the James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin Wing I after a transformative expansion, previously the largest in its history. A new expansion, the McGlothlin Wing II, is planned to open in 2029. Comprising more than 170,000 square feet, it will be the largest expansion in the museum’s history and will make VMFA the fourth largest comprehensive art museum in the United States.