Montana State University Museum of the Rockies

Built in three phases between the late-1950s and the mid-1980s, the Museum of the Rockies required design for a major reorganization and expansion to increase usable space, improve efficiency and circulation, and reorient the building’s main entry to engage the adjacent Montana State University campus, of which it is a part.  

A previously abandoned courtyard will be reclaimed and converted to a new entry and spacious lobby, creating a dialogue with the university campus and improving access to both permanent and changing exhibits, which will also be reorganized and expanded.  The new façade—derived from the indigenous rock formations of the area and expressed in the differing materials, colors, layering, shears, and fissures—will reinforce aspects of the geological formations interpreted within the galleries.