At the Nelson-Atkins Museum, the Bloch Building readies for a “complete building refresh”

Renovation work will start quickly on the Bloch Constructing on the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Artwork in Kansas Metropolis designed by Steven Holl Architects. The repairs will occur alongside design work by Weiss/Manfredi and SCAPE on the brand new addition underway on the museum.

In its successful competitors proposal, Weiss/Manfredi’s addition emulated the harmonious rhythm of the Bloch Constructing. In renderings the 2 units of volumes face each other with the museum’s expansive entrance garden situated in between. The unique 1933 constructing at Nelson-Atkins will even be fully reassessed as a part of the campus refresh.

The Bloch Constructing is now 20 years outdated and in want of repairs, Nelson-Atkins mentioned.

Walter P Moore, the engineering firm, has been working with museum officers to judge the Bloch Constructing’s situation and decide an enchancment plan. McCownGordon, a Kansas Metropolis–primarily based building firm, would be the basic contractor.

Dan Wehmueller, a licensed architect, will steer the renovation because the museum’s government undertaking supervisor. This undertaking workforce chargeable for renovating the Bloch Constructing will present “preventive upkeep” methods, together with a alternative of the constructing’s authentic inexperienced roof.

The “full constructing refresh” will even contain portray and repairing inside partitions, and resurfacing the flooring. Nelson-Atkins affirmed that “these updates won’t change the Bloch Constructing’s beloved structure.”

Nelson-Atkins director and CEO Julián Zugazagoitia mentioned in a press release: “This important refresh is Part One in every of our multi-year campus transformation, which paves the best way for future growth. We’re at the moment planning and fundraising for the subsequent phase-space to welcome much more of our group to the museum for all kinds of exhibitions and actions.”

Due to a $20 million grant from the Marion and Henry Bloch Household Basis, the renovation work on the Bloch Constructing begins this month. Museum patrons can count on staggered closures in choose exhibition areas within the Bloch Constructing all through 2026.

Separate however associated, Nelson-Atkins additionally shared this week {that a} native architect will likely be chosen in Spring 2026 to work in tandem with Weiss/Manfredi on the deliberate museum growth.