Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Announces May 2022 Opening
Construction shot of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA) roof in March 2021.
Photo © Timothy Hursley
Construction shot of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA) roof in March 2021.
Photo © Timothy Hursley
Construction shot of view across courtyard to the 1937 facade as of March 2021.
Photo © Timothy Hursley
Construction shot of the "cultural living room" in March 2021.
Photo © Timothy Hursley
Construction shot of the north entrance and "cultural living room" in March 2021.
Photo © Timothy Hursley
Construction shot of the south entrance and restaurant exterior in March 2021.
Photo © Timothy Hursley
In Little Rock’s MacArthur Park, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (formerly known as the Arkansas Arts Center), redesigned by Studio Gang in collaboration with local Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects, has announced it will open to the public in May 2022. Now under construction, with plans unveiled in January, the renovation and expansion of the museum and its grounds—which is being realized through a $142-million special fundraising campaign—includes a combination of restoring the original 1937 building and its subsequent eight interventions as well as new additions. Once completed, the project will also open the structure to nearly 11 acres of public landscape designed by New York–based landscape architect SCAPE.
Today, a major milestone of the project has been completed: the museum’s new concrete roofline that blossoms to the north and the south with a series of angles. The cover spans the entire length of the AMFA museum at 133,000 square feet and connects new constructions with renovated spaces.
In 1982, the museum’s original Art Deco facade designed by architect H. Ray Burks was absorbed into the building’s interior, and with Studio Gang’s new design, excavated and renewed the original limestone facade—including relief sculptures by a local artist—will return as the art museum’s main entrance.
