Over the past semester, the Nasher Museum of Art has begun to emerge from a giant mud pit on the south side of Campus Drive.
Although rainy weather last spring delayed construction and forced the project, which was originally scheduled for completion this summer, to push its grand opening back until October 2005, officials are satisfied with the museum's current status.
"It's a little slower than I had hoped, but it's a complicated project and a complicated site," Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said.
When it is complete, the University's art collections will move to their new home, where officials hope more members of the Duke community will be able to appreciate them.
"The gallery spaces are much nicer; it has better education and auditorium spaces; it's bigger; it has better access; it has parking," Trask said. "Overall it's much better than the old building, which was a converted science building."
The Duke University Museum of Art's current space on East Campus, he added, will be converted into classrooms and offices for Arts and Sciences.
The project, designed by world-renowned architect Rafael Vinoly, might not look impressive at the moment, but Sarah Schroth, DUMA's interim director, remains excited about the final product.
"The most outstanding [feature] of course will be the glass and steel roof, which is the architect's signature," Schroth said. "When a visitor walks in the door it will be a 'wow' reaction, because there are no columns--it's this open expanse of about 10,000 square feet."
At present, however, the facility remains only 36 percent complete, Schroth estimated. Barring further delays, the building should be done in January or February of 2005, with preparations and move-in operations continuing over the summer and the official ribbon-cutting at the fall meeting of the University's Board of Trustees.
Current projections also confirm that the construction remains on budget. Of the $23 million the University approved for the museum, only $17 million has been raised, but officials remain confident the rest will be forthcoming.
"We have just seen interest build all along," said Ellen Medearis, director of major and leadership gifts for the University's development office. "When the plans were early there were people who said, 'That's good news,' and then as we have continued to see walls go up, there are other people who get even more excited.... So when we say the project is under construction, we mean it in two ways."
Builders broke ground for the new museum in March 2003, but support for moving DUMA's collections to a new home has been growing since the mid-1990s. In 1998 Dallas art collector, philanthropist and real estate developer Raymond Nasher, Trinity '43, committed $7.5 million to set the wheels in motion for the new facility.
Now that the museum, once a dream, is close to becoming reality, administrators are beginning to plan ways to attract students to the collections housed there. The location on Campus Drive is less visible than the one on East Campus, but Schroth said this would not be a problem.
"Really important exhibitions are being organized that are going to attract students and the community alike," she said. "If you build it, they will come, so we've built it, and to maintain it you've got to have interesting exhibitions and installations."
In addition, there will be a lecture hall and several seminar rooms for classes. The University will also sponsor an education program, including lectures and film series, aimed at students, faculty and the community.
Cindy Yee contributed to this story.
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