Opening Is Set for Moneo Building at Rhode Island School of Design

Rafael Moneo’s new Chace Center will open in September. (Courtesy of Rhode Island School of Design)

The Rhode Island School of Design has set September 27 as the opening date for a new five-story museum building designed by José Rafael Moneo. The $34-million building, which will be connected to the school’s existing museum by a bridge, will house galleries, a visitors’ center, and a museum shop and cafe, as well as a 200-seat auditorium, offices, classrooms, and some conservation and support spaces.

The building, called the Chace Center, is under construction on an irregular lot. It will be sheathed in silvery etched glass interrupted by large windows of clear glass, with brick at the structure’s base and on the sides. It is designed to earn a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Mr. Moneo is a professor of architecture at Harvard University. His other campus buildings include Wellesley College’s Davis Museum and a new Laboratory for Integrated Science and Engineering at Harvard.