Williams College Museum of Art

The new home for the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) reflects the college’s commitment to object-based learning at the center of a liberal arts education. Located at a gateway site on the western entrance to campus and to Williamstown, the facility is intended to engage the campus, community, and the broader Berkshires region around art.

The building is organized as a series of pavilions that correspond to the museum’s four program areas. These pavilions are unified by an expansive, flowing roof and arranged around a central gathering space and planted courtyard. The program includes galleries, art storage and preparation areas, education spaces for teaching and making art, workspaces, an auditorium, and a café. The building will provide additional gallery space to display more of the museum’s collection of 15,000 works and includes facilities that support access to collections for students, faculty, and visiting scholars, along with additional object study classrooms.

The primary structure consists of glulam post and beam framing paired with cross laminated timber (CLT) decking. A concrete transfer slab above the basement level distributes loads and provides structural stability. A key architectural feature is the undulating roof constructed from cross laminated timber panels with warped geometry. Finite element modeling and analysis were used to inform and validate the warped CLT geometry. Full scale mockup testing at Nordic Structures’ fabrication facility evaluated the constructability and performance of the mass timber panels under warping conditions, while additional tests assessed glulam beams with curvature in two axes. These timber elements will remain exposed in the finished building.

The project is targeting Living Building Challenge (LBC Core 4.0) certification and incorporates sustainability strategies including all electric power, air source heat pumps, rainwater retention and reuse, stormwater capture, and ecological restoration of the project site.

Renderings by Jeudi.Wang, courtesy SO-IL and the Williams College Museum of Art