Palmer Museum of Art to open new building on June 1, 2024

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State will nearly double its footprint, offer improved accessibility, and debut a host of amenities when its new 73,000-square-foot building opens to the public on June 1, 2024. The state-of-the-art facility, located in The Arboretum at Penn State, will include 20 galleries, new educational and event spaces, a museum store and café, a sculpture path and outdoor terraces.  

Designed by Allied Works and landscape architect Reed Hilderbrand, the new Palmer Museum of Art will hold a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. 

The opening of the new museum will mark the debut of Dale Chihuly’s “Lupine Blue Persian Wall,” a site-specific installation inspired by the Arboretum. The 13-foot installation spans 35 feet and anchors the museum’s feature staircase. The Palmer Museum also will reveal a number of new acquisitions by artists such as Fernando “Coco” Bedoya, Joseph Delaney, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Rodrigo Lara, David MacDonald, Malcolm Mobutu Smith, Toshiko Takaezu, Akio Takamori, Kukuli Velarde, Patti Warashina, Purvis Young, Malcah Zeldis and Arnold Zimmerman.  

“The new Palmer Museum of Art will substantially boost accessibility to the University’s art collections for students, faculty, staff, our regional communities and beyond,” said Erin M. Coe, director of the Palmer Museum of Art. “The innovative design brings art, architecture and nature in dialogue with the diversity of works in the collection that span centuries and global cultures, offering each visitor an exceptional, enriching experience.” 

Visitors will encounter galleries that vary in ceiling height and proportion as they explore American, European, African and postwar modern and contemporary art; ancient to modern ceramics; and contemporary studio glass in 15 permanent galleries plus five galleries devoted to special exhibitions. The Palmer Museum’s unique location adjacent to the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens in the Arboretum inspired the building’s design. Outside, visitors will discover a series of interlocking pavilions clad in regional sandstone that evokes the geology of central Pennsylvania. An overhead bridge connects the museum’s exhibition wing to the administration/education wing, serving as a gateway to the gardens, meadows and woodlands beyond. Inside, natural light floods many of the spaces, and several areas invite visitors to enjoy framed views of the Arboretum. Nine perforated stainless-steel lenses bring the picturesque surrounding landscape into the galleries while filtering the natural light and protecting the works on view.

The new Palmer Museum of Art aligns with Penn State’s commitment to environmental sustainability. Allied Works designed the high-performance, LEED-certified building with a focus on accessibility, energy conservation, the climate and the surrounding area. Architects utilized predominant winds, solar angles, and other environmental factors to make the museum both energy efficient and compliant with the stringent environmental standards for a fine art museum. The Palmer’s insulated roof, walls and glazing contribute to the museum’s energy efficiency.    

For the first time, the Palmer Museum of Art will have educational and research spaces, including a dedicated area designed for interactive, hands-on exploration for art lovers of all ages. The new Exploration Gallery will feature a plant-themed artwork creation activity designed to inspire and empower museum visitors. Each visitor’s artwork contributions will begin as a hand-colored plant form on paper and be brought to life within a collective, digital canvas. The resulting digital garden installation will animate, propagate and include a natural soundscape. 

A commemorative book that celebrates the completion of the new building will include essays by Coe and Allied Works founder and principal designer Brad Cloepfil; an illustrated history of the project; and photographs of the architecture, galleries, educational and public spaces, and exterior landscaping. The publication also will recognize the donors who helped to make the new museum possible. 

The Palmer Museum of Art holds growing collections of 11,000 works of art, including American art; contemporary studio glass; ceramics from a range of global cultures and eras; African art; Asian art; European Old Master paintings and sculptures; modern and contemporary art; and drawings, prints, photographs and other works on paper. The museum was founded in 1972 and reopened in 1993 as the Palmer Museum of Art in honor of the generous and visionary support provided by James and Barbara Palmer. Admission will remain free.  

More than $25 million has been raised to support construction of the $85 million project. Fundraising continues to support new acquisitions, exhibitions, education programs and operations. 

To learn more, visit palmermuseum.psu.edu.

About the Palmer Museum of Art 

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State is the largest art museum collection between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and the most significant academic art museum in the state of Pennsylvania. A key element of Penn State’s land-grant mission of teaching, research and public service, the museum is a vital and accessible cultural resource for Penn State’s students, faculty and scholars, as well as for all visitors to and from the entire central Pennsylvania region. Through its world-class objects, programs and outreach, the museum is a welcoming, inclusive and vibrant forum for authentic arts experiences and cultivates meaningful dialogue about today’s most potent ideas and pressing concerns.  

An expansive 21st-century teaching museum, the Palmer Museum of Art is a beacon for advancing the arts and humanities on Penn State’s University Park campus and throughout its diverse communities. The museum is dedicated to catalyzing groundbreaking research, scholarship and publications and providing impactful, object-based learning for Penn State and K-12 students. The museum’s rewarding and thought-provoking exhibitions and programs promote visitor participation, belonging and discovery. The new museum building will allow the Palmer to foster academic collaborations and strengthen student engagement through hands-on learning in a purpose-designed classroom space, and in spaces like the Teaching Gallery, designed for innovative cross-disciplinary programs.  

About Allied Works 

Allied Works is an integrated architecture and design practice whose projects and creative works seek to inspire and elevate the individuals, institutions and organizations it serves. Established in 1994 by Brad Cloepfil and operating from studios in New York and Portland, Oregon, the practice has grown steadily through the completion of major museum and cultural projects, innovative educational facilities, residences and workplaces — all of varied scale, purpose and character — in locations across the globe. This diversity is intentional as it presents perspectives from all fields of practice, offers new insights and opportunities and advances the search for innovative solutions. Allied Works explores and integrates all aspects of a building’s environment and expression, from urban design and broader site response to the design of finely tuned interior environments, graphic design, furniture and diverse applied arts pieces. 

Notable works include the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus, Ohio; the National Music Centre in Calgary, Alberta; the Wieden+Kennedy World Headquarters in Portland, Oregon; and the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado. Current projects include a new United States Embassy Compound in Maputo, Mozambique; a new winery in Oregon’s acclaimed Dundee Hills AVA; and a major renovation of the Dana Arts Center at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. 

About Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture  

Works by Reed Hilderbrand of Cambridge, Massachusetts, have been recognized with numerous design awards, including The Architect’s Newspaper’s 2023 Best of Practice Award for Landscape Architecture, The Architectural League’s Emerging Voices Award and the American Society of Landscape Architects’ Firm Award. Recently completed projects and works in progress have appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg and The Guardian.  

The landscape architects Douglas Reed and Gary Hilderbrand formed their partnership in 2000. Today Reed Hilderbrand has 70 landscape architects, designers and staff working on projects across the U.S. and abroad. They work from a deep conviction about the impact of landscape architecture to reform and to transform, to conserve and to invent. The practice is known for its great sensitivity to place and record of design excellence in collaborations with mission-driven organizations, institutions, communities and individuals. 

Reed Hilderbrand previously designed Denver’s Clyfford Still Museum with Allied Works Architecture. Among Reed Hilderbrand’s recently completed works are the Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art in New Orleans; The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut; and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Notable commissions in progress include collaborations with Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania; Buffalo Bayou Partnership in Houston, Texas; Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, D.C.; Tanglewood Music Center in the Berkshires; and Storm King Art Center in the Hudson Valley.