March 26, 2024

The design of the New Brunswick Museum is featured in an article by Daniel Roche for The Architect’s Newspaper.

Diamond Schmitt, with EXP, is expanding the New Brunswick Museum’s footprint with a new facility in the city’s urban center not far from the Saint John River. The New Brunswick Museum in Saint John, Canada, is the country’s oldest continuing museum: The institution’s lauded history can be traced back to Abraham Gesner’s Museum of Natural History in 1842.

“Taking inspiration from the museum’s original site—one of the great vantage points in Saint John—our design embraces the rich history of New Brunswick’s heritage and natural landscape,” says Don Schmitt, principal at Diamond Schmitt.

Its existing wing, built in 1934, is a neoclassical edifice on Saint John’s Douglas Avenue beside Riverview Memorial Park. Historic Douglas Avenue is a stately milieu lined with 19th-century homes crowned by “widow’s walks,” a word for towers designed to allow the family of sailors to watch ships return to the harbor. The expansion brings together programs, collections, and staff that were spread out at different locations across the city.

The design features five new wings that tie together the museum’s research and exhibitions with one sustainable, decarbonized facility. The design team intends to build a meaningful community gathering space for the city and province at-large that celebrates New Brunswick’s cultural and natural heritage. Together, the team and museum are working with Indigenous leaders and communities on the 134,000-square foot project, which stands on the land of the Wabanaki people. 

Read the full article in The Architect’s Newspaper here.