The project architect is Russel Tyner of Houston/Tyner Architects of Marina del Rey, while the design architect is David Martin of AC Martin Partners.The landscape designer is Nancy Goslee Power and Associates of Santa Monica. HMH Construction of Camarillo will be the general contractor.Museum of Ventura County, founded in 1913, is dedicated to the artistic and cultural heritage of Ventura County. It has a collection of more than 30,000 works of art and artifacts, a unique research library of 150,000 documents and rare glass plate images, and 200 renowned George Stuart Historical Figures®. The facility presently serves more than 65,000 visitors every year, including 5,000 schoolchildren who visit with their classes, and an additional 4,000 who are served by outreach programs in their classrooms.
County Museum expanding with new design
November 02, 2007
Santa Paula News
The Museum of Ventura County stands on part of the original orchard for the San Buenaventura Mission.
The Museum of Ventura County stands on part of the original orchard for the San Buenaventura Mission. So when it adds an 18,000 square feet expansion to double its size, it will honor those roots in an entirely contemporary building surrounding the existing Spanish/ranch structure. The outside walls will be covered in local river rock, much of it from a recent anthropological excavation of part of the Mission orchard wall, across from the museum site. The museum’s groundbreaking took place October 11, 2007 with construction completed in early 2009. Museum officials expect to continue operations on site until Spring of 2008, and then continue exhibits and programs in a temporary location.Once open, the new facility’s public plaza will welcome visitors with an open columned entrance, bringing the museum closer to Main Street from its present nestled setback, The new space will be highlighted by a dramatic Great Hall, sky lit by a glass spine rising two stories, giving the structure visibility day or night. Inside, art gallery space will be tripled, increasing opportunities to display the extensive collection, host traveling exhibits, and expand exhibition of the county’s newest artists. New, expanded storage space will bring most of the collection on site. The permanent history gallery will undergo renovation.The new structure will also include an educational center, classrooms and a children’s activity garden, a new research library three times larger than the quaint but small area it now occupies, an enlarged store, and an event pavilion designed to seat 200 for dinner and many more for lectures and programs. The new elements will be added on the north, east and south sides of the site.
