The Botticelli had happily hung in the North Carolina Museum of Art for more than a quarter-century, moving only a few feet over the years.
But The Adoration of the Child was in for a surprise one October morning when three glove-wearing handlers swiftly removed the round painting in its gilded frame from the gallery entrance, placed it on a cart and pushed it through a custom-made tunnel to its new home.
"Art work never likes to be moved," said Dan Gottlieb, the museum's director of planning and design. "It's happiest being left alone."
The 750 pieces of art are being moved from the museum's current, dimly lit building to a new, 127,000-square-foot one that uses natural light, usually anathema to paintings and works on paper, as the major design element. When the new building opens, the museum's permanent collection gallery space will increase by 54 percent.
Some behind-the-scenes designs are making it possible to safely transfer invaluable pieces from one building to another as part of the expansion that will cost $73.1 million in public money and $5.5 million in private funds. The work includes a tunnel that connects the two buildings and a hidden, roll-up door that will allow art the size of the massive museum walls to be moved into the new building.
The building itself, designed by New York architect Thomas Phifer, includes a "skin" that's about 50 percent glass, allowing in sunlight. Since art and light are usually mortal enemies, the design includes protective elements such as ultraviolet filters, louvers and curtains.
On a recent gray, drizzly day, museum director Larry Wheeler walked through the new building, acting like the proud papa. "I don't think ever in the world has a museum been invented that used this much natural light per square foot," he said. "The only reason we can do it is because it's the 21st century and we've found a way to engineer the UV."
The 12-foot-tall, 12-foot-wide and 130-foot-long tunnel was Gottlieb's idea. He said he couldn't imagine a design that didn't allow staffers and art to move easily between the new building and the old one, which will house special exhibitions and host educational programs after the new building opens in April 2010.
"It was a given to me in terms of just good museum practice that the new permanent collection gallery must have a really good and secure means of transport for the collection," Gottlieb said.
Gottlieb, who has worked on the expansion for 11 years, described this point as the home stretch for himself.
"We have realized this project in the way we could only pray to do so well," he said. "We're able to start moving the art works in, and the building is being transformed into this perfect, minimalist thing that brings art and light together in a way that nobody else has done."
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