2.5.10 | Boston, MA | The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston has revealed the final, detailed plans for an addition (rendered above) designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. The new wing will add 70,000 square feet (6,500 square meters) to the historic 1902 museum building, known as Fenway Court, which was designed by Gardner herself with assistance from architect Willard Sears.

Piano has designed the new wing to stand 50 feet (15 meters) behind the existing building and to rise no higher. A first floor with transparent glass walls will afford direct views of Fenway Court, the museum gardens, and the adjacent Emerald Necklace park system by Frederick Law Olmsted. Four volumes clad in patinated green copper panels, seemingly floating above the first floor, will contain a daylit special exhibition gallery and a 300-seat in-the-round performance hall, designed in collaboration with acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics. The project will also provide outdoor seating for the cafe and expanded garden spaces, for which Piano has designed new working greenhouses.

The museum is planning to seek LEED certification. Sustainable features will include a geothermal well system, daylighting, water-efficient landscaping techniques, and the use of local and regional materials. Site preparation and excavation work began in 2009. The extension is expected to open in early 2012.

The project team also includes the Boston office of Burt Hill, architect of record; the Watertown, Massachusetts, office of Buro Happold, structural and mechanical engineers; Paratus Group of New York City, owner's representative; and Boston-based Shawmut Design and Construction, construction management.