257 replies to this topic

[urbanvb]

well, more classy I should have said.  

[wrldcoupe4]

hahaha...well I'm really looking forward to the finished product for this. A lot of the other museums in the area are currently expanding and there are a few new ones as well...

The First Freedom Center should be interesting as should the new museum at the Tredegar National Civil War Center. The Historical Society, just nearby the VMFA is already undergoing a major expansion. And the Architectural Center of Virginia just opened recently on Monument Ave.

[burt]

The Arts section of today's NYTimes has two big stories about VMFA director, Michael Brand.  He has been accepted as the new Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.  The Getty has a $5 BILLION endowment.  The $70 Million the Getty paid 2 years ago for a single painting, Titian's "Portrait of Alfonso d'Avalos" could have covered much of VMFA's upcoming expansion, according to news stories.

Obviously, our Mr. Brand is highly regarded in art circles.  Who will replace him?

[wrldcoupe4]

hopefully someone just as good!

[vdogg]

burt, on Aug 15 2005, 03:03 PM, said:

Thanks for posting these, coupe.  I can't say it looks beautiful in my eye, but I'm sure the finished product will be appealing.  A noted London architect, but not so noted that I remember his name, designed it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It looks pretty neat on the inside. Very modern

[wrldcoupe4]

when things look modern like that I always wonder is they are as sturdy as something more traditional...they never seem like it!

[wrldcoupe4]

the science museum has unveiled $2 million worth of new interactive exhibits....sounds like it would've been a fun way to learn things about science as a kid....

Quote

"In the classroom, we have a teacher and a blackboard," Weber said.

"But in a museum you get all this. You get to work out science for yourself."

Museum exhibits are out of this world

[burt]

wrldcoupe4, on Sep 5 2005, 04:02 PM, said:

the science museum has unveiled $2 million worth of new interactive exhibits....sounds like it would've been a fun way to learn things about science as a kid....
Museum exhibits are out of this world

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I saw MYSTERY OF THE NILE on the Imax screen while I was at the Science Museum last week.  Awsome!

[burt]

Richmond's "The" Boulevard is not exactly "le" Champs Elysee, but I really enjoyed its beauty last week. The full grown crepe myrtles in the median, the mostly well-kept apartment buildings and homes, and the row of museums are very impressive.  Pity it was not renamed Arthur Ashe Boulevard with his statue in Byrd Park. But that's a dead issue, and I'll move on.

Byrd Park looked spectacular on a brilliant sunny day.  I drove around its three large lakes and into the parking lot of the Maymont Nature Center.  Well-kept mansions line the street bordering the west side of Swan and Shields Lakes, and handsome homes and apartments line Lakeview and Davis Avenues.  And then there is charming Byrd Park Court.

Just off of The Boulevard on Broad are the Richmond Childens' Museum and the fabulous Science Museum of Virginia with its IMAX dome in and adjacent to the old Union railway station.  These, along with the Va. Museum of Fine Arts, the Confederate ediface (the name of which I cannot recall), and the ever expanding Battle Abbey (Va. Historical Society) comprise the "Museum District" in the West End.

Coupe, I still want you to take a night-time picture of the beautiful and colorful fountain in Boat Lake at Byrd Park!

Edited by burt, 06 September 2005 - 10:45 AM.

[wrldcoupe4]

great description!

haha burt I'll see what I can do. IMO, my camera skills are still primitive. Once it becomes more of a mastery... I'll venture into the great unknown: night pictures!

by the way... it's the Daughter's of The Confederacy...

[wrldcoupe4]

looks like the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts breaks ground on its expansion this month!

Quote

"VMFA is embarking on an incredible journey of transformation. Plans are nearly completed, and construction for the Museum’s remarkable Expansion is now beginning. .....Construction of the new VMFA Parking Deck is scheduled to begin in September. As a result, many of the former parking spaces will be unavailable....."

campus transformation

also... changes to the parking area....

now


during construction of the new parking facilities


completion of parking facilities should be 2006 and will "accomodate 600
cars under a terraced, landscaped roof that forms part of the Robins Sculpture
Garden. As visitors proceed between the parking deck and the new main entrance, a garden and watercourse will parallel their movement."

[wrldcoupe4]

I think the Whitehouse and Museum of the Confederacy are going to move.... this is the stupidest idea I've heard in a long time. These people are whiny babies. If the White House moves, it loses its place on the historic registry....not to mention the location which puts it in the context of its past. The TD is supposed to do an article on it tomorrow...

[wrldcoupe4]

on a happier note.... I didn't know that the Science Museum has a real chunk of Moon Rock in an exhibit......

The director says that it is the rarest and most valuable object in their collection.... appraisers won't even set a value for it!

[wrldcoupe4]

shakman on RCW mentioned that he saw that ground has broken on the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts expansion. It's most likely for that parking structure shown above. I can't wait to see the finished product with the new museum wing.

[burt]

The Science Museum has just received and installed a replacement Kugel globe.  The original one installed about a year or so ago weighed in at 29 tons and was carved from South African black granite.  However, a crack around the equator area of the huge sculpture appeared requiring the Museum to turn off the jet of water that supported it and allowed it to rotate every 57 minutes.  

A replacement (under the original warranty) of Tarn granite is now in place on its matching gray base.

The Kugel is an immense globe representing the earth, and 250 feet away on another base is a smaller kugel representing the moon.  They are scaled at 1 foot to 1000 miles, and each is supported by a jet of water and rotates.  They are touchable and kids have a grand time trying to push them around.  

The 29 ton sculptured globe is recorded in the Guinness Bood of Records.

[wrldcoupe4]

I'm very glad they finally installed the replacement kugel.... It's definitely a great attraction at the Science Museum...Did I hear somewhere that the museum was thinking of building a miniature Streetcar run on it's property?

[burt]

Walter Witschey, Director of The Science Museum of Virginia, contributed an excellent piece in the TD about the Museum and the $25Million annual impact it has on the Richmond economy.

It is hosting, thru tomorrow, 1400 delegates to the annual conference of the Association of Science-Technology Centers.

[wrldcoupe4]

Apparently the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts expansion is progressing nicely. They've even begun excavation for the addition.

Work on the parking deck/sculpture garden had already begun. Maybe I can swing by there today when I check out the bow tie site?

[wrldcoupe4]

Renderings of the VMFA expansion:



western facade


Boulevard facade


Features of VMFA's expansion that will transform its 13½-acre campus include:

    *Constructing a five-level glass-and-stone structure that will add more than 100,000 square feet of space to the existing 240,000-square-foot museum;

    *Restoring the orientation of the museum's main entrance to the Boulevard, one of Richmond's main thoroughfares, and eliminating the rear entry from the parking lot that has existed since the 1970s;

    *Establishing two main circulation corridors that will connect the new and existing buildings on both gallery levels, so that visitors will be able to circulate throughout the galleries without retracing their steps, and the collections will be organized in more meaningful relationships;

    *And reclaiming 4 acres of parking lot for a new E. Claiborne and Lora Robins Sculpture Garden that will partially cover the roof of a new 600-car parking deck at the north end of the museum's campus.


I had no idea they were going to use the original main entrance again! wow! cool!

Edited by wrldcoupe4, 19 January 2006 - 11:29 PM.

[ric75]

wrldcoupe4, on Jan 20 2006, 12:28 AM, said:

Renderings of the VMFA expansion:

Nice! I like how the Boulevard facade has so much glass. Makes it very open and inviting.