PRINCETON UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM
“The new Princeton University Art Museum is conceived as a campus within the campus, a space of genuine inquiry where the exhibition of diverse practices, learning as a synthesis of knowledge and cross-cultural connections weave together into a singular experience that encompasses a multiplicity of ideas and peoples.”
_David Adjaye
The Princeton University Art Museum has a bold new home at the heart of campus, designed by Adjaye Associates with Cooper Robertson serving as Executive Architect.
Conceived as a “campus within the campus,” the new museum doubles the size of its predecessor while remaining rooted in its historic site, reinforcing its central role in university life and its place as a cultural hub for the wider community. Centrally located between Elm Drive and Chapel Drive along McCosh Walk, the new 146,000 sq ft (13,565 sq m) three-story museum takes inspiration from Princeton’s architectural heritage. Keying into the permeability of the campus, the design breaks the mass into nine interconnected pavilions that resonate with the surrounding buildings.
Organized around two main axes, north-south and east-west, the museum aligns with existing desire lines, ensuring it remains integrated with daily college life even when the galleries are closed. Two major “artwalks” traverse the ground floor, linking the building to existing campus circulation and allowing parts of the museum to remain active beyond gallery hours.
Galleries are arranged as a sequence of volumes interspersed with in-between spaces that frame views to college landmarks, the landscape, and outdoor sculpture. The massing responds to the site’s natural gradient, stepping down to create terraces, open-air courtyards, and outdoor gathering spaces for events ranging from 200 to 2,000 people. The landscape design preserves mature elms and beeches along McCosh Walk, relocating significant trees where possible, and introducing new green terraces that blend the museum and the topography.
The design emphasizes transparency and engagement, with lens windows, light wells, and open circulation that connect art, landscape, and community. Material choices and façade treatments are tuned to catch light from all directions, animating the building throughout the day. The exterior combines alternating rough and polished stone aggregate panels with bronze and triple-glazed windows. The result is an articulated architecture that is textured, porous, and responsive.
