Expansion of the ever-popular Chrysler Museum Perry Glass Studio represents an exciting future for the museum and recognition of the distinguished international reputation of the glass-making program. WPA has been working with the Chrysler Museum on the Schematic Design for a new building adjacent to the existing glass studio. This renovation and new addition will put the glass-making process on display, feature the history of glass as an artistic medium, and accommodate art objects. It will be a bold extension of the Museum and its educational programs. The new facility will create a new Museum “face” on Duke Street, featuring layers of transparency. It will have no front or back, but will be attractive from all sides, and create a formal connection between the glass studios and the Museum, with views of the glass furnaces visible from the Museum. It also will connect with Norfolk’s NEON District on a path marked with a series of glass “bread crumbs” for wayfinding. At “ground zero” for Norfolk’s flooding challenges, the new structure will employ strategies to handle rain water, and it will be elevated four feet above the existing glass studio in order to be resilient to repeat nuisance flooding events in the District.
