The Palmer Museum of Art is an institution with a 45-year history of innovation, a strong academic mission, and a growing collection of nearly 11,000 works of art.
The University selected Allied Works to design a new museum that would expand its capacity for exhibitions and provide state of the art spaces for education, programming, and events, allowing Penn State to incorporate art into its curriculum, provide resources to scholars working in a variety of fields, and nurture public appreciation for art and nature throughout the region.
Located within The Arboretum at Penn State, the building is organized as interlocking pavilions set within the flows of the greater landscape, weaving together the Museum and the Arboretum, connecting people to landscape, landscape to art and art to light. Each pavilion is clad in a palette of local stone, evoking the geology of the Nittany Valley and Central Pennsylvania. These pavilions in turn define indoor and outdoor garden courtyards for gathering and contemplation. Galleries are proportioned to capture abundant daylight and frame views to the Arboretum gardens and landscape beyond. The gallery sequence is punctuated by double-height spaces that allow visual connection across collections. providing curatorial flexibility and expanded program opportunities.
