The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art project will result in a transformation and expansion of the organization’s campus. The project includes construction of a 40,000 square-foot new museum building as well as landscape design for the expanded campus by Field Operations, that expands the current Chadds Ford campus into a 325-acre public preserve and garden featuring ten miles of trails. When completed, the new trails will create a loop through the changing landscape between the new museum building and Brandywine Museum of Art’s beloved historic Mill building, as well as the original studios of N.C. Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth.

The BCMA’s new museum building, designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates in association with Schwartz/Silver is envisioned as a series of wood-clad pavilions. Visitors will enter on the southeast side of the building’s upper level and emerge into a light-filled hall with views out to a nature preserve on three sides. From there, visitors can explore two large galleries on either side of the main axis, as well as a smaller gallery off the lobby. The lower level will include two more galleries, a coffee bar, and a terrace offering additional scenic views.

The new building will add 14,000 square feet of gallery space designed with the Museum’s current collection and future aspirations in mind. On the upper level of the new building, a 4,000 square foot gallery will be dedicated to Brandywine’s expansive collection of landscape paintings, one of the strongest areas of the Brandywine’s collection but which cannot currently be shown in depth. Also on this level, another 4,000 square foot gallery will be used to present special exhibitions, and a 1,000 square foot space will be dedicated to the art of Andrew Wyeth. On the lower level, there will be a 1,000 square foot special exhibition gallery, as well as a 4,000 square foot gallery that will make the Brandywine the premier destination for works by the Wyeth family, featuring 130 years of artworks by five artists across three generations. The new building will also include offices and back-of-house functions.