@Daniel check out the post I’m replying to for renderings. But the link with them all is now broken 
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Yeah it’s just strange all around. If that’s what it is going to look like, not sure why they are keeping it hidden. You’d think they’d want to share it while posting about it closing.
Nothing on the awful exterior?
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Never fear, WRAL is here to shed tons of light on what’s happening with their in depth reporting!
This is literally the entire article:
The North Carolina Museum of History is closed effective Oct. 7 for the start of a years-long renovation project.
The museum shop, at 5 E. Edenton St. in downtown Raleigh, will remain open through Sunday, Dec. 29.
Children, parents and teachers can learn about the story of the state through digital experiences while the museum gets an update. A re-opening date has yet to be determined.
According to the museum, the project is made possible through funding authorized by the North Carolina General Assembly and Gov. Roy Cooper.
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This fence has started going up around some of the Museum of History. Not sure if the expansion is what it’s for or not. Another mysterious State government project.
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I’m hoping for a $200M gaudy, gilded, Baroque style ballroom.
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Phase 1 (renovation plus expansion on current site) is starting up. It’ll be a huge improvement - the new atrium might rival the giant globe for a Raleigh icon!
I wasn’t aware phase 2 (next block to the east) had made progress.
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damn, that expansion is really exciting. we can think of this as the little sister to the convention center project in terms of taking over an adjoining block and putting a bridge across it.
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I’m a Land Surveyor and I did the survey of this whole block for this renovation. What I was told by employees is that this area that currently has picnic tables will be turned into a new exhibit. They said it would include a life-size recreation of the Wright Flyer suspended in the air.
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Ho hum just another day with another massive state project with zero transparency. If I read the Holt Brothers description correctly the Phase 2 would take most if not all of the block to the east and nobody knows what the hell is going on. Super!
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Love that, that’d be awesome
It’s so weird, why don’t they want to brag about the project? What is there to hide?
Yes, this is huge. It says the first phase is updating and enlarging the current 199K SF building, then the second phase is another 190K SF. So this project will more than double the existing footprint!
Very exciting, but also super weird that there is not more hype and transparency around what the update will look like.
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I wonder when phase two will start.
Didn’t LS3P also design the Education Complex as well??? Seems like someone at the State has a favorite architect 
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We finally got a statement from the Museum of History on the renovation / expansion.
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Reopening in 2028. It closed in 2024, so at least 4 years of closure!
Also, I’m not sure we had seen a dollar amount. This says $180M from the general assembly.
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There’s an article from the N&O about this, too! Putting the two together, we now know that this $225M project will be/have:
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40,000 sq. ft. more space when they open in 2028 (a 20% increase from the current floorspace despite the same building footprint)
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25% more gallery space compared to the current layout, letting them show a larger share of its collection at a time (typical museums only display ~5% of their full collection!)
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An 8,000 sq. ft. atrium that could hold ~1,000 people for events
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Classrooms, a new restaurant, and community spaces
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Long-overdue backend needs like leak repairs, new offices, and a new freight elevator
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"A more hands-on, interactive experience aided by podcasts, YouTube content and rotating exhibits” (more in line with what the Smithsonian, the V&A in London etc. also do)
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Paid for mainly by state appropriations ($180M), with the rest ($45M) from private donations via the NC Museum of History Foundation
And here’s the pretty picture tax, from the museum by way of the N&O article:
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Nothing on Phase II? That was mentioned in Holt Brothers’ release but not in either article. Annoying but not surprising
PS apparently the link to the Holt Brothers press release got yanked. Fun!
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