The first kengo kuma museum in the US is emerging on a massive campus

Kengo Kuma will build his first museum in the US

Kengo Kuma & Associates reveals the plan for the first time museum building in the United States as part of a major expansion for the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art in Pennsylvania. It was invented as a series of wooden pavilions integrated into the landscape, the new 3,716 square meter structure anchors the institution’s transformation from a 6-acre campus to a 131.52-acre public park and garden designed in collaboration with Field Operations. The expanded site is expected to connect the new museum building to Brandywine’s historic mill structure, the surrounding wetlands, and the former studios of artists NC and Andrew Wyeth through ten miles of new trails.

Slated to begin construction in the spring of 2027 and open in the fall of 2029, the project places art, ecology and conservation into a unique visitor experience. The expansion will increase the museum’s exhibit capacity by 80 percent while creating a larger public landscape dedicated to native planting, environmental stewardship and outdoor learning.

all renderings courtesy of Kengo Kuma & Associates and Field Operations unless otherwise noted

Wooden pavilions emerge from the Pennsylvania landscape

Designed in collaboration with Schwartz/Silver Architects Inc.the new museum building was designed as a sequence of four wooden pavilions arranged along a central axis. Low public roofs rise to asymmetrical peaks, while extensive glazing opens the interior spaces to the surrounding sanctuary. Visitors enter from the upper level into a light-filled hall framed by landscape views on three sides before passing through a series of galleries spread over two floors.

The new building introduces 1,300 square meters of additional exhibition space, bringing the institution’s total gallery footprint across both museum buildings to nearly 1,860 square meters. Special galleries will showcase the museum’s extensive exhibitions of American landscape painting, rotating exhibitions and works by Andrew Wyeth, while a larger permanent gallery will trace 130 years of artistic production across three generations of the Wyeth family.

According to Kengo Kuma, the design seeks “emerging from the landscape rather than being imposed on it”, integrating the architecture within the wooded topography and seasonal atmosphere of the Brandywine Valley. The project continues on of the architect long-standing interest in tactile matter and the porous relationships between interior and exterior, here translated into volumes of wood filled with filtered forest light.

Kengo Kuma arranges four wooden pavilions under asymmetrical gabled roofs | rendering courtesy of Vibsu

The historic mill building remains central to the visitor experience

The institution’s existing museum, housed in a restored 19th-century mill along Brandywine Creek, will remain an active part of the campus. Following extensive flood damage caused by Hurricane Ida in 2021, the building recently underwent a flood hardening process using underwater waterproofing technology to protect it from future extreme weather events.

Future renovations to the mill building will introduce new educational and public programming spaces, including a studio classroom and an interactive exhibit dedicated to the environmental work of the conservancy. Several existing galleries will remain in use, maintaining the intimate viewing experience associated with the original museum while expanding opportunities for research, events and scholarship through the institution’s archival centers.

Field Operations turns the campus into a public space

Beyond the architecture itself, the project radically expands the institution’s landscape footprint. The redesigned campus by Field Operations introduces wetland walks, outdoor classrooms, nature play areas, interpretive ecology trails and extensive native planting systems intended to showcase the environmental mission of conservation. The innovative stormwater infrastructure integrated around the new museum building will also function as part of the visitor experience, combining climate resilience with public landscape design.

The expanded trail network will connect the museum buildings to the historic NC and Andrew Wyeth studios, both designated National Historic Landmarks. The institution describes the campus as a “learning landscape” where visitors constantly move between art galleries, preserved ecosystems and environments that have inspired generations of American artists.

terraces and gathering spaces extend the museum experience to the surrounding area