The Henry will reopen in April, after two years of construction, with renovated and greatly expanded facilities. The expansion was designed by internationally renowned architect Charles Gwathmey of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates, in association with the Seattle architectural firm Loschky Marquardt & Nesholm.

Gwathmey is no newcomer to museum design, having recently completed additions to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and Harvard University’s Fogg Museum. Nevertheless, the Henry provided unique challenges.

"It was a very difficult site to build on," says Richard Andrews, director of the Henry. "The site is pinched by the University’s central parking garage to the north, a campus entrance to the south, and 15th Avenue on the west. It also was important to retain the vista to campus from the street."

These challenges led Gwathmey to build the expansion primarily below grade, wrapping it around the original building to the east and south. As a result, the new structure—the Faye G. Allen Center for the Visual Arts—does not interfere with the original facade of the Henry or obstruct views of the campus.

"The gallery had greatly exceeded the physical limitations of its building," says Andrews. "The challenge of presenting the breadth of artistic activity from modern art to digital media, coupled with the phenomenal growth of the Seattle region, drove us to initiate the expansion."

The limitations of the existing building were myriad, ranging from a scarcity of exhibition space to a desperate shortage of storage space for the permanent collection. Only one exhibit could be presented at a time, with long stretches between exhibits.

"The building had no loading or art handling areas, so there was simply no space to install and de-install exhibitions at the same time," explains Andrews. "The museum was closed a total of three months each year to accommodate the change of shows."

All of these frustrations disappear in the new building. Nearly four times the size of the original museum, the new Henry offers five distinct gallery spaces. The original Horace C. Henry gallery will be devoted to presenting artworks from the Henry’s rarely displayed permanent collection. "I think that people will be genuinely astonished at the quality and diversity of works in the permanent collection," says Andrews. The complex also includes a 154-seat auditorium, an academic research facility, classroom and studio space for K-12 groups, a sculpture court, and a cafe.

"We will become a multi-faceted museum when we reopen," says Andrews. "On any given day, there may be a major exhibit of contemporary art, a smaller art installation, an exhibit with selections from the permanent collection, and an evening lecture series. We’ve never been able to do that before."

Reaching Out to Students

Another feature of the new Henry is windows. Lots of them. The building’s new entrance is enclosed with large panes of glass, and the ceiling of the dramatic south gallery is a series of long skylights, curved to blend into the slope that rises from 15th Avenue NE to the UW’s central plaza.

Visitors can thank UW students for the many windows in the building. Early on in the planning process, the Henry ran focus groups with students and discovered that many found the existing building intimidating. "They were intimidated because the building had no windows and they couldn’t see in," explains Andrews. "If they didn’t have a prior history of going to museums, they simply did not open the door. So when we started talking to the architect, we took this into account. Now students on the plaza outside will be able to watch people enter the building and go down the ramp to the lower galleries."

Encouraging students to visit has always been a priority to the Henry’s staff. Historically, 40 percent of the museum’s audience has been from the University community. "We are uniquely situated to provide a gateway experience for University students," says Andrews. "If they have a positive experience at the Henry, we are building future museum audiences."

In addition, the museum now has space set aside for classes to visit and study works from the collection. "We envision this being appropriate for many disciplines," says Andrews. "Art classes, architecture classes, drama classes studying costume design . . . there are tremendous possibilities."

The one thing that Andrews insists will not change is the Henry’s interest in presenting provocative exhibits that other mainstream museums might avoid. "Unlike a civic institution, whose role is to serve as broad a public as possible, the voice and vision of a university museum is more focused and allows for greater risk-taking and more experimentation in its exhibitions and programming," Andrews says.

One example of the Henry’s interest in cutting-edge work is the museum’s new media gallery, designed to accommodate video and digital technology—and any other new technology that might come along. "We hope that this will be a place of experimentation," says Andrews. "Digital media is such an embryonic field. We wanted to have a place to house developing art forms, even though we are not even sure yet what those forms will be."

The Henry has scheduled a series of reopening events to introduce its new building, including a reception for the campus community on Thursday, April 10 from
4 to 7 p.m. and a larger public reopening and dedication on Sunday, April 13 from 1 to 6 p.m. For more information, contact the Henry Gallery at 543-2281.