Located on historic, central campus, the Art Museum was established in the 1750’s in conjunction with what is now the Department of Art & Archaeology and the fine arts library. Over time, to meet the needs of all three programs, the building has had numerous additions and modifications and yet the museum can only display approximately 2% of their 97,000 objects in their collection.

Adjaye Associates was selected as the design architect in September 2018, in collaboration with Cooper Robertson as the project’s executive architect.

Cooper Robertson led a needs analysis and prepared a space program and detailed room inventory for the museum’s renovation and expansion. Extensive interviews were held with museum staff, leadership, stakeholders, and local community members along with the oversight of the Provost, Office of Capital Projects and University Architect. The space program served as a guiding document for initial concept studies and further design development that quantifies and details the museum’s mission and goals for the future to educate, challenge, and inspire the Princeton and larger surrounding community.

The building will replace and roughly double the square footage of the existing facility, which occupies a central location on Princeton’s campus. The design employs a mix of traditional materials—including stone, bronze and glass—that speaks both to the present moment and the historic Princeton context. The new Museum will occupy three stories, featuring seven primary interlocked pavilions containing many of the building’s new galleries, interspersed with more intimate spaces that break down the scale of the whole while knitting the elements of the new building into the campus landscape. The exterior of the building is characterized by alternating rough and polished stone surfaces inspired by the rich history of the surrounding environment. The building will be shared with the Department of Art & Archaeology and Marquand Library.

Construction is slated to begin in 2021 with an anticipated opening in late 2024.