The Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota, is preparing to break ground on a major renovation and expansion of its permanent collection facility, working with architecture firms Olson Kundig and JLG. The project will create an open storage concept design, adding a fourth gallery and allowing public access to the museum's basement collection storage, where over 6,000 artworks are housed. This follows the museum's history of adaptive reuse, having transformed a 1904 International Harvester warehouse into its main building in 1997 and adding the Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity in 2012.
This expansion matters because it reflects a growing trend among U.S. art museums—only 18% currently have open collections—to increase transparency and public engagement with their permanent holdings. By allowing visitors to view storage areas and see curatorial work in progress, the Plains Art Museum aims to deepen understanding of its stewardship role and showcase its diverse collections, which include regional, national, international, folk, and Indigenous art. The project also underscores the museum's ongoing commitment to community outreach and education, positioning it as a trailblazer in the North Dakota art scene.