The Art Museum of West Virginia University on the Evansdale Campus in Morgantown, W. Va., was conceived to house the university’s art collection, which includes more than 3,000 objects from Africa and Asia, as well as art from West Virginia, the Appalachian region, and the United States at large. The building was to be situated along the main thoroughfare in front of the campus adjacent to a historic building designed by the late American architect Michael Graves, that once housed the alumni center and was renovated in 2009-2010 to serve as the Museum Education Center.
The university’s architectural design guidelines and material standards for the Evansdale Campus included traditional sloped roofs, stucco and stacked stone. Together, the proximity to the Graves building and the new design rules presented a unique set of challenges: How to combine historical motifs and contemporary artistry. The end result is a building comprised of numerous modern details combined with a semi-traditional aesthetic.