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Spencer Museum of Art Looks to the Future with Expansion Plan

Over the last three decades, the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas in Lawrence has nearly doubled the size of its collection. Looking ahead to future expansion, the museum recently hired an internationally renowned architectural firm to create a plan. By Laura Spencer

Kansas City, MO – The New York-based architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners (formerly I.M. Pei & Partners) has worked on a wide of range of projects, including the Louvre in Paris, and the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Spencer Museum director Saralyn Reece Hardy says the firm's $40,000 study will provide a phased master plan for the future with a shift in focus to a more dynamic museum.

"No longer is it just long corridors of paintings. There's much more interactivity," says Hardy. "There's a commitment, I think, to bringing audiences and viewers and, in our case, students into the museum to be active participants, not passive observers."

A member of the architectural team met with museum officials this week. The study is expected to be completed by the end of this summer.

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