Joslyn Art Museum

The Rhonda & Howard Hawks Pavilion is a new 42,000 sf addition to the Joslyn Art Museum, the largest art museum in Nebraska. Working in collaboration with Snøhetta and Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture, Front consulted on the full enclosure of the addition from schematic design through construction administration.

The addition is an opportunity for the Joslyn to reimagine its role as a significant cultural institution in the region with global influence, and to realign as a more accessible and inclusive arts center. The addition will include a new public entrance, additional galleries, and re-envisioned outdoor public spaces. Structurally, the addition adjoins the original 1931 Art Deco Memorial building clad in pink marble, the more modern Pavilion built in 1994 with similar pink marble exterior elements, and the glass atrium previously used as the Museum’s entrance. Designed to be distinctive while complementing the Joslyn’s existing buildings, the new addition extends horizontally from the Atrium with a measured slope reminiscent of the surrounding natural landscape. Employing textured precast panels with light pink aggregate, the addition’s new façade maintains a clear visual relationship to the overall Museum complex.

Front’s scope includes exterior opaque and glazed facades, skylights, glazed entrances, exterior soffits, roofing, above and below grade waterproofing, and the challenging interface between the new expansion and existing buildings. The Joslyn Art Museum reopened in September 2024.