Weatherspoon Art Museum
Cole Levin Center for Art and Human Understanding

Greensboro, NC

Client

Size

Completion Date

Architect

Consultant Team

UNC Greensboro

6,446 square feet

Anticipated 2026

Studio Archibene

HLB Lighting (Lighting Design)

Newcomb & Boyd (Mechanical & Electrical)

IMEG (Structural)

Cost+Plus (Cost Estimate)

In December 2024, Studio Archibene was engaged for architectural design services to renovate a portion of the Weatherspoon Art Museum (WAM) to create the Cole Levin Center for Art and Human Understanding (Center). When complete, the new Center will greatly increase the WAM’s already robust object teaching and community engagement programs with new purpose-built spaces tailored to the specific needs of the programs.

The Center is being made possible by a major gift from the artist, collector, and philanthropist Carol Cole Levin. Her major gift comprises of artwork from her collection as well as funding for this renovation project to create the Center. Humanist inquiry into better understanding of our shared humanity by means of object-based teaching and learning is the priority of this project. As a teaching museum, the WAM has provided object based teaching programming for many years but without a high-quality, purpose built space to support the unique requirements of this type of pedagogy. The new Center will provide this much needed architectural space and support the WAM as it aspires to grow its programming and outreach.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The Center's design features a new, centralized space, or Prefunction carved from the surrounding, more opaque architecture. This Prefunction disrupts the linear, passage experience of the long, existing corridor by inserting a non-directional space that will encourage lingering and engagement. Connecting all other program components of the Center, the Prefunction becomes a thickened threshold into Object Viewing, Object Study, Space for Engagement, and the Reception.
The proposed design draws inspiration from various artists featured in the WAM collection, aiming to create a multi-layered experience that reflects the humanist themes present in the works of artists like Dan Graham and William Anastasi.

OBJECTIVES OF PROPOSED DESIGN

Inviting Spatial Destination
Minimize Demo/Rebuild Costs
Maximize Functionality
Migrate Classroom Traffic Toward Atrium
Multi-Layered Experience of Humanist Art and Understanding

Dan Graham

Triangular Solid with Circular Inserts, 1989

Dan Graham

Public Space/Two Audiences, 1976

William Anastasi

Passion, 1967 - 2015

Design for the new Center includes seven distinct program components:

Object Teaching Space: The primary space dedicated to object based teaching programs
Space for Engagement: Gallery space that supports community engagement and public meetings
Collection Storage/Object Study Space: Multi-use space for support of art research, storage, and preparation. The Collection Storage will be a secure, dedicated room for art storage; particularly works on paper
Center Reception Space: Public-facing welcome point representing the Center
Prefunction Space: Generous public circulation space to connect the various Center programs
Library/Seminar Room: Multi-use space for support of Art History classes and a new Library for the museum
Furniture and Equipment Storage: Convenient storage for chairs, tables, and equipment