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Hannah Marx and Dalia Levanon
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Construction of the new WCMA has been delayed. (Photo courtesy of Saltbox Films via WCMA.)
The construction of the new Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) building, which broke ground in fall 2024 and was originally expected to open in fall 2027, has now been extended potentially later into the 2027-28 academic year. WCMA, which continues to be open to the public in its longtime home of Lawrence Hall, will close on Dec. 23.
Senior Project Manager at the College Scott Henderson explained that the construction and planning teams have shifted the timeline to give them flexibility and room to pivot. “Early targets focused on the fall of 2027 and now we’re focused on fine tuning and allowing us to give ourselves space,” he said in an interview with the Record. “[The new timeline] gives us a little flexibility so we’re not constantly changing this deadline.”
Though WCMA’s website previously projected fall 2027 as the opening date for the new site, it now states that the museum is “projected to open in the 2027-28 academic year.”
Henderson did not confirm a precise opening date in response to the Record’s inquiry. “It has to fluctuate because a project at that scale, it’s a two-to-three year process in just construction, so you understand that there’s that sort of movement of things happening,” he said. However, if this upcoming winter is mild enough that construction goes faster than expected, WCMA could potentially meet the fall 2027 deadline, according to Henderson.
The extension can be partially attributed to the process of sealing off the building to protect it from inclement weather, which has taken longer than expected, according to Henderson. “Some months there’s things that are happening really well,” he said. “Some months, maybe the weather was bad, and we take a little hit.”
The construction team is working to weatherproof the site in anticipation of winter weather. “The walls are framed, and they’re starting to put in curtain walls, which are the big window components,” Henderson said. “Where they’re not doing that, they’re putting up tarps and that’s to prepare us for the winter and temporary heat.”
The crews are also working to address water infiltration on the site. “We have had water infiltrate in a couple of areas during the roof build-up phase, but we have been able to work quickly to tighten up those areas,” Henderson wrote in an email to the Record. “We’re at 65 percent [overall completion]. If there [are] impacts, we recognize what had happened and build in this recovery plan.” Part of this plan involved dedicating a construction crew to focus on water damage.
Henderson explained that the project’s next milestone is connecting to a permanent power source, after which the construction team can move onto the next steps. “That’s when we’ll start getting into drywall and wood floor,” he said.
WCMA Communications Production Manager Rebecca Dravis said that if construction extends past the end of the fall, she would like to see the museum open at the beginning of the spring semester. “If [the opening] shifted slightly as construction projects do, it could potentially put us into December or January, and we did not want to open our new building when the students weren’t around,” Dravis said. “It felt like let’s at least start thinking about it as the academic year, so if things shift a little bit we can think about when the students are here.”
The additional cost from extending the project will not fall on the College, according to Henderson. “Our contract with the construction manager holds them to the project budget and schedule, so if the progression of work on site affects the schedule, it falls on them to present a path to completion that stays within the current budget,” Henderson wrote in an email to the Record. “At this time, we do not anticipate a change to the budget.”
In order to prepare the artwork for a move to the new building, WCMA’s collection and object labs at Lawrence Hall will be closed to the public starting on Dec. 23. “It’s a very complicated process,” Dravis said. “They’re doing a really great job of thoughtfully and sustainably creating packing materials for the move across campus.”
“We’re only going a mile, but you have to pack everything up like you’re going 100 miles,” she added. “[We] can’t just throw it on a U-Haul or something like that.”
WCMA, originally known as the Lawrence Art Museum, first opened inside Lawrence Hall on April 19, 1927, and will have one last hurrah to celebrate its 100-year anniversary before its doors close. “We’re going to participate in [the Williamstown Holiday Walk] and have … a big community invitation to come see the museum for the last time in Lawrence Hall,” Dravis said. “We’re super excited to get a new building, but [the current building has] been great for 100 years, and we want to make sure everybody has a chance to see us one last time in that space.”
While the galleries and object labs will be permanently closed, Lawrence Hall will still house the art history department and accommodate some art classes. Associate Professor of Art Murad Mumtaz plans to hold some of his classes in the gallery space, and some works will remain in the hall for professors to use in their teaching, according to Dravis.
After WCMA leaves for good, Lawrence Hall will become a hub for student groups. Henderson said he’s already been in contact with the College to discuss future designs for the building. “That’s my next project,” he said.
Co-Chair of the Art Department Peter Low is excited about this development. “[Lawrence Hall] will involve a renovated building and improved classrooms and offices for Art History, but it will also involve, we hope, such amenities — available to students across the campus — as flexible rehearsal studios for the performing arts, a writing studio for creative writing, a variety of maker spaces for studio art, including a dedicated ceramics studio, and a top-level film screening facility,” he wrote in an email to the Record. “The Board of Trustees has not yet voted on this plan — the fruit of a number of programming studies — but we hope that such a vote will happen soon.”
While the extension in construction of the new building was unexpected, Dravis is excited for the campus to finally experience the museum that has resided in a different home for the past century. “This is a 100-year building for us, right? This is an exciting moment,” she said. “We don’t want to open before we’re sure that everything is safe.”