Ann Arbor Art Center

Ann Arbor, Michigan

A2AC Expansion and Renovation

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Project Information

Renovation, 2022


Design Challenge:

  • Create internal connection between the main building and the newly-acquired adjacent property
  • Renovation to make the historic structures fully accessible 
  • Add new studio spaces to allow for expanded class offerings

The Ann Arbor Art Center (A2AC) has been serving the Ann Arbor community for over 100 years, and the historic Walker Carriage Works building on Liberty Street has been A2AC's home since 1975. 


Demand for classes has always been high, but capacity was often limited by the facilites available at Liberty Street. The Art Center experimented with leasing off-site satellite studios to help meet demand, but the arrangement was operationally suboptimal.


So when a donor stepped up to help A2AC acquire the historic brownstone right next door, it was the beginning of a new chapter for the Art Center. 


New studio classrooms and new gallery spaces were at the top of the wish list. We also needed to create fully-accessible ramp connections between the buildings on the first and second levels, and fully-accessible bathroom facilities. 


The ground floor of the adjacent building (formerly a salon) was always slated to be the new Exhbition Gallery, a space that could be secured if needed -- enabling A2AC to include high-value art in an Exhibition -- but linked directly to the retail shop.  


We relocated administrative offices formerly in the main building to the floor above the Exhibit Gallery. This made space for all of the studio classrooms to be in the main building. 


On the main level, we added a ceramics studio. There is a new classroom on the second level, where new Education Staff offices and two other previously existing classrooms open onto an informal gallery space. The third floor classrooms were unchanged, but here, as on the second level, we upgraded bathrooms to be accessible and included wash-up sinks in the hallways which classrooms share.



Photo Copyright: Ryan Halsey Photography, 2022

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