WPA is pleased to collaborate with Sway on our second wayfinding project, this time for the NEON District and the Downtown Norfolk Council. Check out the article here…pilotonline.com
—Studio’s exceptional success in first five years spurs discussion of needs for larger facility—
The Chrysler Museum of Art launched its Perry Glass Studio in 2011 as an educational complement to the Museum and its extraordinary glass collection. The state-of-the-art facility offers classes in all glass processes for both novices and experienced artists. The Perry Glass Studio also is known for innovative Third Thursday events that feature glassmaking as a performing art. Image by Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer
NORFOLK, VA. (December 16, 2016) — The Chrysler Museum of Art has joined forces with Work Program Architects of Norfolk to perform feasibility studies for a possible expansion of the Perry Glass Studio building, Museum Director Erik Neil and WPA Principals Thom White and Mel Price jointly announced today. The Perry Glass Studio, now in its fifth year, has surpassed the Museum’s original expectations for its success, prompting the exploration of creating a larger facility to accommodate its growing educational demands and opportunities for new programs.
“The Perry Glass Studio has met with unprecedented success in its first five years, and as we capitalize on that success, its future looks even brighter,” said Museum Director Erik Neil. “WPA can help the Chrysler consider its options for an enlarged and enhanced facility, but even more, we believe that WPA can help us make a statement about the Perry Glass Studio and its importance to the growth of the arts in Norfolk.”
WPA is a full-service architecture, interior design, and planning studio with offices in the historic Monticello Arcade in Downtown Norfolk. Their expertise includes all scales of architecture, urban design, master planning, and sustainable and resilient design. The award-winning firm is also lauded for its reputation for creative collaboration with its clients, and for LEED certification in energy-efficient “green” building practices.
WPA was founded in 2010 by Thom White (AIA, Principal/Design Architect) and Mel Price (AIA, LEED AP, Principal/Project and Process Manager). The firm and its leaders boast an impressive portfolio that includes design projects across the country, with many of their foremost accomplishments within the Commonwealth. Among these recent successes are the new G.W.C. Brown Memorial Hall at Norfolk State University and a host of urban design interventions that focus on placemaking and a resilient approach to development, K-12 and higher-education facilities, retail spaces, corporate offices, residences, and galleries across Hampton Roads.
The group’s experience with both the Chrysler Museum and Downtown Norfolk and the city’s growing NEON
(New Energy of Norfolk) Arts and Design District are especially valuable. Both the Chrysler Museum of Art and its glass studio play a critical role as anchor locations within the NEON District. The Perry Glass Studio was launched in 2011 as an educational complement to the Chrysler’s comprehensive collection of glass. The popular state-of-the-art facility offers classes in the many processes of glassmaking and serves novices and master artists alike. In addition, the Perry Glass Studio has garnered a reputation for innovative uses of glass in the performing arts. These successes and the area’s burgeoning arts scene earned the Chrysler and the City of Norfolk a prestigious honor: selection as co-hosts of the 46th Annual Glass Art Society Conference in June 2017.
Work Program Architects emerged as the Museum’s choice for the expansion research project through a competitive search. Each of the local, regional, and national firms invited to participate is known for its experience with similar expansion projects, according to Museum Trustee Peter Meredith, who heads the Building Committee. He said WPA stood out for their research initiative, aesthetic creativity, community understanding, contracting networks, and professional expertise. The Museum’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved the selection on October 27.
“WPA is thrilled and honored to be selected to explore an expansion of the Perry Glass Studio,” said Thom White, Principal/Design Architect. “We look forward to working with the Chrysler Museum of Art to develop a world-class facility that is a vital and versatile destination for artists and visitors alike to engage deeply with the art of glassmaking.”
“An expansion to the Perry Glass Studio could provide a better and more resilient link to the Museum proper, create more partnerships with the community, showcase all of the glassmaking processes that the Studio has to offer, and provide an even more incredible and fun educational experience for visitors!” Mel Price, WPA’s Principal/Project and Process Manager, said. “We are delighted to work with the Chrysler Museum of Art to consider how to turn these possibilities into reality.”
ABOUT THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART
The Chrysler Museum of Art is one of America’s most distinguished art museums, with a nationally recognized collection of more than 30,000 objects, including one of the great glass collections in America. The core of the Chrysler’s collection comes from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., an avid collector who donated thousands of artworks to the Museum. In the years since Chrysler’s death in 1988, the Museum has dramatically enhanced its collection and extended its ties with the Norfolk community. The Museum expanded in 2014 to add additional gallery spaces and amenities for visitors. The Chrysler also mounts an ambitious schedule of visiting exhibitions and educational programs and events each season.
In November 2011, the Chrysler opened a full-service glass Studio adjacent to the Museum. This state-of-the-art facility features a 560-pound capacity glass furnace, a full hot shop, a flameworking studio, nine annealing ovens, and a coldworking shop. This popular facility has a growing reputation for creativity and innovation in the glass world, and will serve as a cohost for the 2017 Glass Art Society Conference in Norfolk.
The Chrysler Museum of Art also administers two historic houses in downtown Norfolk: the Moses Myers House and the Willoughby-Baylor House.
The Chrysler Museum of Art, One Memorial Place, Norfolk, and its Perry Glass Studio at 745 Duke St., are open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.
The Historic Houses on East Freemason Street are open weekends. General admission is free at all venues. For more information on the Chrysler Museum of Art, visit chrysler.org.
ABOUT WPA
Work Program Architects was founded in 2010 by Thom White and Mel Price. Located in the historic Monticello Arcade in Downtown Norfolk, WPA has an open studio environment that encourages collaboration between staff, consultants, clients, and the community. WPA is focused on municipal, educational and government work, civic landmarks, places of business, and any place where people gather.
Our mission is to build community through good design. Our ever-evolving, inclusive, multi-disciplinary design process results in projects unique to their location. The relationships we build with our clients and the community create buildings, neighborhoods, and urban places that connect people in living, working, and social spaces. We value a healthy and collaborative environment in which we develop responsible professionals and effective leaders, and foster the efforts of engaged citizens.
WPA was formed around the commitment to take on a significant pro bono project portfolio each year. Our current efforts are focused in the NEON District and on the formation of the Friends of the Elizabeth River Trail Foundation. The Friends of the ERT Foundation’s mission is to provide planning, fundraising, and marketing to activate and enhance the Elizabeth River Trail.
For more information, visit wparch.com.
popblossom and Work Program Architects, are pleased to present LONGING FOR ELEUTHERA, selected recent works by Lisa Tubach
An ardent observer of the natural world, painter and conceptual artist Lisa Tubach explores nature’s hidden complexities. Her paintings, large scaled and vibrantly hued, are informed by her experiences in studio locations in remote or distant places. Her latest body of work is no exception. In 2014, Tubach assisted in fieldwork assessing coral health in the Cape of Eleuthera (Bahamas). Spending untold hours in the island waters, Tubach surveyed patch reefs with a video camera and water resistant notepad in hand. Her subsequent creative work became translations/meditations on these beautiful and valuable underwater environments.
A native Nebraskan, Lisa Tubach is a Professor of Art in the School of Art, Design and Art History at James Madison University, teaching in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Her paintings and video work have been widely exhibited in the US and abroad and are held in private and public collections, including the permanent collection of the U.S. Department of State/Monrovia, Liberia and the Museum of Nebraska Art.
Thom would like to thank all who came out to the opening of his first solo art exhibition, The Sleeping Theater, and also to invite you to his artist talk tomorrow evening at 6pm. More information can be found via this this link. Thom will be telling the story behind the works and discussing the various processes and methods used to make them.
A number of Thom’s wonderful friends, family members, and colleagues helped make the show happen. Olivia Morgan (former WPA colleague) built the “Theater Tower”, Randy Hess of NEST Home made the frames and offered invaluable curatorial advice, Dustin and Matthew Wallace of Prince Ink produced the screenprints, Cindy and Brian Leydet of Business Document Solutions (BDS) provided scanning and printing services (at all hours!), Akin Yildiz and Beau Turner of 757 Makerspace 3D-printed the “Pulse Cubes”, Peter Johnston (WPA) helped hang the show, Peter Paik (dear friend) was kind enough to loan back a piece to show, Yuzhu Zheng of UP Studio photographed the opening (including the shots in this post), and Beth White (WPA and Thom’s wife) offered endless support and inspiration.
The Sleeping Theater. An exhibition of works by Thom White. June 10 – July 29, 2016
In April of 2015, the historic carriage house located at 533 Mill Street was destroyed in a fire. Constructed in 1906 with additions built in 1907-1909 and 1924-1925, the building served the Royster family’s three homes around Mowbray Arch and Warren Crescent, housing six cars below and the chauffer and mechanic in a small apartment above. WPA has been working with the home-owners, the City, the Architectural Review Board, the Sargeant Memorial Collection, and the Ghent Neighborhood League on a design for a replacement to the historic carriage house that fits seamlessly back into the neighborhood, alludes strongly to the original building, but asserts itself as a 2016 building.
Check out this companion video piece created in conjunction with an article in Distinction magazine talking about Downtown Norfolk’s revitalization. Mel Price of WPA was proud to participate in the video alongside Drew Ungvarsky, Buddy Gadams, Mary Miller, Dina Taylor, and Marissa DiGirolamo.
The new Brown Hall theater walls are beginning to take shape. See these cool drone photos shot by SB Balllard’s team.
