Architecture
The Barry Art Museum is a distinctive building at the southern gateway to the Old Dominion University campus. Designed by Saunders + Crouse Architects, the 24,000-square-foot museum is located at 43rd Street and Hampton Boulevard.
The structure features the red-orange brick exterior and cast-concrete trim seen in other structures on campus, but has a forward-looking design that serves its primary purpose: to showcase art. The two-story building’s signature element is its 40-foot-tall serpentine façade of vertical channel glass. The wall provides a fitting prelude to the large collection of glass sculpture by important international artists on display inside, in addition to paintings and other media. The translucent glass wall warms and brightens the lobby, balconies and corridors with diffused light. At night, the LED lights embedded in the glass will give the façade an ethereal glow.