Our design brings the Art Deco structure back to its origins, but enhanced with new surprises and the three-story addition.
– Wendy Pautz

The Seattle Asian Art Museum will reopen this weekend after a $56m (€51m, £43m) renovation and expansion of its historic 1933 Art Deco building by LMN Architects.

The project, which has taken 12 years from planning through design and construction, was the first major renovation of the 64,250sq ft (6,000sq m) facility since it was constructed.

Most notably, preservation work has been carried out on the building and its Art Deco façade and its total gallery space has been increased from 12,276sq ft (1,140sq m) to 16,173sq ft (1,503sq m).

Other work has included updating the museum’s infrastructure, upgrading its climate control and seismic system for protecting exhibits, improving accessibility and better integrating the building with Volunteer Park, in which it is situated.

A new glass lobby and two new portals ensure the museum is now better connected to the park, while a new 2,650sq ft (246sq m) gallery, education studio, conservation centre and community meeting room has been added.

Wendy Pautz, design partner at LMN Architects, said: "Our design brings the Art Deco structure back to its origins, but enhanced with new surprises and the three-story addition.

"The new modern gallery and park lobby are built around the trees so that now, everyone in the park can get a sense of what is happening within, and the contemporary addition creates new opportunities for serendipitous social interactions inside the museum."