Master plans are significant, time-consuming and costly undertakings for museums. They can vary in scale; however, overall, master planning strategies should consider the same elements such as an institution’s strategic plan goals, future vision, market potential, organizational capacity, revenue potential, operating expense impacts, and fundraising potential.
This session will provide an overview of two different master plan strategies for two different institutions. The approach for the Florence Griswold Museum was to undertake a strategic master plan pre-design; the other approach for the Museum of the Rockies was master planning in design by 45 Architecture and Olson Kundig. Both have yielded actionable master plans.
We will present and discuss the benefits and challenges of both approaches to provide insights for other institutions and boards considering and/or currently undertaking master plans. Topics covered will include: inheriting, rethinking and redirecting a past capital program towards a revised (and much broader!) vision for the institution; transitioning from a traditional visitation model to the “business of experiences”; benefits of developing a strategic business plan in tandem with real-time master planning; and navigating master planning with a varying number of stakeholders. If we build it, will they come?
Learning Objectives
- Summarize critical steps needed for a successful master planning process.
- Identify what expertise is needed based on the situation, whether pre-design or in-design.
- Describe how to manage varying challenges during a master planning process such as getting board approval and budget constraints.
- Compare two differing master plan strategies and describe how both can be effective.
- Describe that each institution will have its own set of issues and challenges but critical master planning steps are the same.
AIA Continuing Education Course Number, BMS2025-35
