Museum PR Announcements News and Information

Peabody Essex Museum selects Ennead Architects to design expansion

The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) announces the selection of Ennead Architects to design the museum’s $200 million, 175,000-square-foot expansion. Renowned for design excellence and for its collaborative approach, Ennead was chosen from a group of distinguished architecture firms that were invited to participate in a design charrette this summer. Ennead brings extensive museum experience to the project, having designed the much-acclaimed renovation and expansion of the Yale University Art Gallery, as well as several significant projects at the Brooklyn Museum, Natural History Museum of Utah, William J. Clinton Presidential Center and the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History.

PEM’s new construction will proceed in the area (shaded in red) between Essex and Charter streets, following the removal of several structures within the same footprint. Image courtesy RMA.
PEM’s new construction will proceed in the area (shaded in red) between Essex and Charter streets, following the removal of several structures within the same footprint. Image courtesy RMA.

Ennead was chosen after the successful completion of the first phase of the building project, executed by Rick Mather Architects of London, U.K. The initial phase included master planning and the renovation of the Dodge wing, which will reopen in October with a new and expanded Art & Nature Center, and a vibrant program of special exhibitions.

PEM’s $200 million building expansion project is part of a landmark $650 million Campaign to advance the museum’s mission of celebrating outstanding art, culture and creative expression in ways that transform people’s lives. The expansion will add approximately 75,000 square feet of new galleries; public program and education spaces; a restaurant, as well as essential improvements to the museum’s collection, conservation and exhibition processing areas.Groundbreaking for PEM’s expansion project is to commence in 2015, and the new wing will open to the public in 2019. PEM will remain open throughout the construction process until the final months, when re-installation of the museum’s galleries will take place.

For more information call 866‐745‐1876 or visit: www.pem.org