14th February saw the presentation of the master plan that will drastically change the look of the Boston Fine Arts Museum. The long needed overhaul of the American museum which has been in the same building since 1909 and possesses the largest collection of decorative art in the world, was entrusted to the London studio of Norman Foster and Partners in 1999. Construction work will start in 2003 and will be finished by 2007. The first phase consists of building a new east wing which will house the collection of contemporary American art, an auditorium, a restaurant and a glass courtyard. An entire side of the three storey structure will also be completely transparent, making the inside visible to the street. Glass, a dominant element, is used to renew a large part of the original structure and will also cover two internal courtyards; the new design will provide almost double the floor area of the original museum.

To create a dialogue between the new and the original structure, the project by the Foster studio proposes an information point that flows into one of the glass courtyards to strengthen the central axis of the building which runs north/south (Huntington Avenue/Fenway), and to add a glass spine which runs east/west.

Plans are for the construction of an underground car park, another glass courtyard and a study centre in the far west of the building during the second phase of the project. So when will it be finished? The director of the Museum, Malcom Rogers, doesn’t hide the fact that this depends largely on finding the necessary funds – 425 million dollars – and that around 5 years will be needed to finish the first phase.

https://www.mfa.org/newmuseum