Williamstown, MA According to Skanska, a leading global construction and development firm, its program management and consulting group, Skanska Integrated Solutions (SIS), is serving as the program manager for the construction of the Williams College Museum of Art. Situated on a 6.75-acre site, the new museum will be 76,800 s/f and house exhibits, gatherings, teaching spaces, and administrative and support spaces.
“We’re incredibly excited to continue working with Williams College to enhance its campus and bring a vibrant museum space for the school and local community,” said John Benzinger, program executive, SIS, Skanska USA Building. “The Williams College Museum of Art has particularly ambitious sustainability goals to meet, and I’m confident that our team’s extensive experience leveraging sustainable design and construction will ensure these goals are met upon the project’s completion.”
Located at the western entrance of Williams College, the museum will serve students and faculty, the local community, and visitors to the Berkshires through a cluster of four program areas that are unified through their materials, open atmosphere, a centralized gathering place, and an overarching roof sheltering the entire space. Skanska will apply sustainable design and construction principles throughout the project, including the incorporation of Passive House design and additional sustainable elements in order to track towards a Living Building Challenge certification, a program defining today’s most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment.
SIS has previously provided program management services to Williams College, including the 177,200 s/f addition and renovation of Stetson Hall and Sawyer Library, which was part of the adaptive reuse of a four-story 1923 Georgian Revival building that had formerly been the college’s primary library. The project included the demolition and replacement of two additions dating from 1956 and 1962 with a 130,000 gross s/f concrete framed structure.
Construction on the project began in September.
