Museum's massive work in progress

The art museum will emerge from construction dust with more gallery space, an auditorium and studios for work in film, clay, paint and metal.

By JULIANNE WU

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 8, 2000

LARGO -- Work has begun on the second and third phases of a multimillion-dollar construction project at the new Gulf Coast Museum of Art, which was opened last September.

Ken Rollins, the museum's executive director, said Phase 2, just west of the museum's galleries on Walsingham Road, includes the teaching auditorium, which will seat 106 people, a projection room and an access ramp for the disabled.

Phase 3, north of the present administration building, will include three buildings: one containing studios for painting, photography and interim sculpture studios; a studio for metal smithing and ceramics; and a smaller building which will contain a kiln and a foundry.

Once the studios are completed, that will free up about 2,400 square feet in the gallery, which will be used mainly for the permanent collection, Rollins said. Currently, some of the studios are located in the gallery.

Thompson and Rose Architects of Cambridge, Mass., and Peter Brown Construction Inc. of Largo are overseeing Phases 2 and 3. They are the same firms that were in charge of the design and construction of the administration building and the art gallery.

The estimated completion date for both phases is December of this year or January 2001.

Cost of the two phases is about $2.1-million, "most of which is already raised," Rollins said. "But we are still looking for major donors whose names could be put on the new buildings."

So far, the art museum and its volunteer groups have raised about $4.8-million of the approximately $6.5-million needed to complete all the building plans, Rollins said.

On hold for now -- or until more money is raised -- are a cafe, a fiber arts and textiles design studio and a four-bedroom, four-bath house to be used by nationally known artists-in-residence who will participate in the museum's master artist program.

"We haven't even gone to the community for small gifts yet," Rollins said. "That will probably be in the fall."

Also, Rollins said the bridge that connects Heritage Village and the Gulf Coast Museum of Art should be open to pedestrians by the end of the month. It was supposed to be open in January when the 300-foot prefabricated, steel-and-wood-plank bridge was installed, but the walkways leading to the bridge from both Heritage Village and the art museum have not been completed.

"We've been waiting for the red Augusta brick to arrive so we can complete the project," Rollins said.

The art museum, Heritage Village, the Pinellas Cooperative Extension Service and the new Florida Botanical Gardens -- which will be located around and north of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art -- will make up the 182-acre complex known as Pinewood Cultural Park.

Eventually, visitors will be able to travel from one section to the other without having to drive there.

For now, though, and at least until mid-October, visitors have to follow detour signs. Walsingham Road between Heritage Village on 125th Street and 119th Street is closed for road widening and improvements.

"However, we want people to know the museum will continue to be open throughout the road construction," said Rollins. "The entrance may change temporarily, but please be patient with us. You will be able to get into the museum. Just watch for the detour signs."

In addition to new turning lanes for the art museum and the north end of Walsingham Park, a new spur of the Pinellas Trail will be built to link with the art museum. There will also be new street lighting along Walsingham Road.

"Right now, all (employees') cars stay dirty, but we are excited about all this construction. It will be so great when it's finished," Rollins added.

Although the art museum's project is far from complete, he said it will be featured in an upcoming issue of Architecture Magazine and in a book about to be published by a Washington, D.C., publisher: Museum Architecture: Designing a Destination, written by James Trulove. -- Information from Times files was used in this report.

Museum hours

The Gulf Coast Museum of Art, 12211 Walsingham Road, is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays; and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. It is closed on Mondays. For information, call 518-6833.

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