Chrysler Museum of Art’s newly expanded Perry Glass Studio will display the art of glassmaking

In Norfolk, Va., the Chrysler Museum of Art’s Perry Glass Studio, an educational facility for glassmaking, will open a new addition this summer. That will be followed by a renovation of the existing building scheduled for completion this winter.

The design by Work Program Architects clads the studio expansion in terracotta panels and brick veneer, referencing glass art’s firing process. A new transparent museum front welcomes visitors from all sides. It also creates a connection between the museum and the city’s downtown arts neighborhood, the NEON District. Visitors will be guided to NEON by a path decorated with a series of wayfinding glass “breadcrumbs.”

As soon as they enter, visitors will see the furnaces of the theater-style performance hot shop, which allows artists to work with glass in its molten state. A focal point, the hot shop will display the art of glassblowing. The glassmaking studios (including flat, flame, cold, and mold shops), wood and metal shops, and classrooms will offer artists space to hone their craft, while also allowing visitors to explore glass art.

A roof terrace offers views of the Chrysler Museum, the Hague, and the Elizabeth River. The project also includes an event space, retail area, and catering kitchen.

In light of the area’s recurring flooding events, the new addition has been raised four feet above the existing glass studio to keep it above the floodplain. 

The design’s other coastal resilience strategies include native, salt-tolerant plantings; cisterns to collect rainwater for summer irrigation; onsite water storage; new trees and protection of existing trees to absorb water; and landscaped areas that act as a green sponge.

On the Building Team:
Owner: Chrysler Museum of Art
Design architect and architect of record: Work Program Architects 
Structural engineer: Speight Marshall Francis 
Landscape architects: Stromberg Garrigan & Associates, WPL
Civil engineer: Timmons Group 
PME engineer: Altieri Sebor Wieber 
Theater/AV/acoustics: NV5 
Geotechnical: GET Solutions, Terracon 
Envelope: REI Engineers
Contractor: Hourigan