Houston Baptist University unveiled its new, expanded art exhibition space in the University Academic Center on September 20th, 2012. Designed by Houston-based Studio RED Architects, the art exhibition was renovated from an existing 1,100 s.f. gallery space and turned into the Fine Arts Museum to house art, as well as, the conversion of an existing 1,000 s.f. open office space into a Contemporary Art Gallery.
The grand opening of the Fine Arts Museum featured six religious-themed masterworks from the collection of Sharon and William Morris, including the Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness by Anthony Van Dyck and The Marriage at Cana by Marten Pepyn. Following the grand opening, the HBU Fine Arts Museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The Studio RED Architects team designed a completely new heating, ventilation and air condition system to meet the stringent control of humidity and temperature for the art being stored and displayed at the Fine Arts Museum. They also added an emergency generator, state of the art security system, all new LED lighting and designed new interior finishes. In addition to designing the Fine Arts Museum and Contemporary Art Gallery, Studio RED Architects supervised the entire construction process for a seamless experience.
Jared Wood, partner in charge of overseeing the design process of the HBU Fine Arts Museum and Contemporary Art Gallery, said “We are honored to be given the opportunity to build a space that will hold important works of art and upcoming contemporary works. We have a continued relationship with the HBU campus and have enjoyed the entire design experience.”
Studio RED Architects has worked with HBU on other museum projects, including the Dunham Bible Museum at HBU that is housed in the Morris Cultural Arts Center which was also designed by the award-winning architecture firm. The team also designed the Museum of American Architecture and the Southern History Museum for HBU.
