The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, has selected Kengo Kuma & Associates, along with landscape architects Field Operations and Schwartz Silver Architects, to lead a $100 million expansion project. The plan includes a new 40,000-square-foot museum building, renovation of the existing 19th-century grist mill museum, and a ten-mile loop of walking trails connecting the two buildings to the historic studios of artists N.C. Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2025, with completion in autumn 2029. Nearly half the funding has been raised, including contributions from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art and Wyeth family members.
The expansion matters because it will transform the museum's 15-acre campus into a 325-acre public preserve and garden, integrating landscape and art in a way that honors the Wyeth family legacy. The project is Kengo Kuma's first art museum in the United States, and its design prioritizes the landscape experience, allowing visitors to walk from galleries to the actual studios where the art was created. This initiative is expected to significantly increase attendance and deepen public engagement with American art and the natural environment.