The Bascom

A Center for Visual Arts

After designing a master plan for a new, five-acre campus in the scenic mountains of western North Carolina, Lord Aeck Sargent designed the new museum/gallery building in collaboration with DeWolf Architecture.

The new facility, designed around a historic barn frame, houses the Bascom-Louise Fine Art Gallery, and provides space for temporary exhibitions and classrooms for educational programs. The new Fine Arts Center was designed to accommodate a variety of art programs from children’s classes to adult workshops. There is gallery space for the permanent collection and traveling exhibitions primarily focused on decorative arts and regional sculpture. Support space, including offices, a museum shop, collection storage and exhibition preparation will be provided.

Located in the popular resort town of Highlands, North Carolina, the Center expands the arts and culture opportunities of the year-round residents as well as accommodates those who visit just during the peak tourist season of May-October.

LOCATION

Highlands, NC

SERVICES

Museum Planning
Visitor-Focused Design
Fine Arts Education Planning

SIZE

19,000 sf Main Building | 5,000 sf Sculpture Terrace

"It was important that this new fine arts center would look comfortable, relaxing and like it fit here with our beloved green mountains. But we also wanted a cosmopolitan, up-to-date, contemporary museum space. This was the challenge we presented to our architects, and the end result is such a great juxtaposition of the old timbers and the new contemporary look."

— Kaye Gorecki, Artistic Director, The Bascom