The new facilities are designed to meet the highest standards in the museum industry. In Phase One, visitors will experience a complex series of sky lit spaces, juxtaposed with precisely tuned exhibition galleries where the enjoyment and appreciation of art is the main attraction. Phase Two consists of a replica of the Hermitage, a 19th century Louisiana River Road plantation house designed in 1967 by the celebrated Louisiana architect, A Hays Town. Phase Three is a new sculpture garden surrounding the museum buildings.

THE ARCHITECTURE
The sleek 21st century Phase One Building reflects the architecture of our time, utilizing steel, stone and glass. The 33,000 square foot building cost $8.5 million, and is being built with private funds including a lead gift of $3,000,000 from Lafayette philanthropists Lulu and Paul Hilliard.

The museum features special exhibition galleries encompassing 11,000 square feet including the largest free-span art museum gallery in Louisiana, designed to host major national and international exhibitions. Three of the building's exterior walls consist of approximately 50 pre-cast stone panels each measuring 33 feet high by 10 feet wide and weighing 22 tons. The remaining exterior curtain wall consists of one-inch-thick laminated glass that will exclude 99% of all harmful ultra violet rays and can withstand hurricane force winds in excess of 150 mph.

The museum's public spaces are paved with honed cordosa limestone, and its exhibition galleries feature the highest grade of clear, blond maple floors. The new museum also features state of the art security systems, a climate control system that maintains constant temperature and humidity levels, and a fully enclosed loading bay capable of housing a complete tractor trailer rig.

The dynamic juxtaposition of old and new architecture represented by the museum’s two structures is bridged by a 7,000 square foot plaza paved with Italian limestone, culminating in a dramatic 225 square foot computer programmable water wall designed by Jim Garland, one of the world’s leading water feature designers.

The University Art Museum's furnishings include a teaching collection featuring the most distinguished designers of the twentieth century, including Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, Arne Jacobsen, Isamu Noguchi, Eero Saarinen, Jens Risom, Harry Bertoia, Warren Platner, and Frank Gehry; some of the most distinguished furnishings of any public building in Louisiana.

THE DONORS
The Museum for a New Century Campaign began with a $3,000,000 lead gift from Lafayette philanthropists, Lulu and Paul Hilliard. Approximately $5.5 million has been pledged since the official announcement of the capital effort last year, conducted under the auspices of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Foundation. All major donors will be recognized at the opening gala on April 21st.

THE ARCHITECTS
Eskew+Dumez+Ripple architects of New Orleans, Louisiana designed the new University Art Museum. This award-winning architectural firm is an acknowledged leader in the design of cultural facilities, having designed the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, the new Louisiana State History Museum in Baton Rouge, the expansion of the New Orleans Museum of Art, and museums and visitor centers across the Gulf Coast.

M. Goodwin Associates of Los Angeles, nationally recognized museum consultants, collaborated with museum director, Herman Mhire, on the building program. Other art museum programming projects completed by M. Goodwin Associates include: the Los Angeles County Museum of Art expansion; the Milwaukee Art Museum; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the North Carolina Museum of Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Seattle Art Museum; the Walker Art Center and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The firm's university and private art school projects have included: the University of Texas at Austin; University of New Mexico; Rhode Island School of Design; Southern Methodist University; University of Notre Dame; Yale University Art Gallery and the Duke University Museum of Art.

THE CONTRACTOR
General contractor for the new museum is The Lemoine Company, Inc. of Lafayette, recognized statewide as a leader in the construction industry.