Museum of the West - Old Town Scottsdale

By Peter Corbett - Mar. 27, 2008 12:27 PMThe Arizona Republic

SCOTTSDALE - Plans for a $60 million Scottsdale Museum of the West will face public scrutiny for the first time early next month with a pair of meetings. A non-profit foundation plans to open the museum northwest of Marshall Way and First Street on Arizona's centennial, Feb. 14, 2012. But foundation must first raise about $53 million in private funding to go along with the city's $7 million commitment to the project.
"I hope that it will be seen as a real special amenity and asset to this historic downtown area," said Michael J. Fox, the museum director. At the upcoming open-house meetings, members of the museum board, city planners and architects from the Jones Studio Inc. of Phoenix will present the museum's conceptual design and a model of the proposed cultural facility. Two 90-minute open-house sessions are scheduled at 9 a.m. April 9 and 6 p.m. April 10 at the Scottsdale Artists' School, 3720 N. Marshall Way.

Building includes solar energy
The four-level building with three stories above ground is a modern design with solar energy features. It is intended to be a green building that meets the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or LEED standards. The museum's windows would be shaded by vertical slats made of a wood composite board that will weather naturally. Museum director Fox said the design concept plays off the idea of sunlight streaming through the aged wood of a barn or a straw cowboy hat. As with any design, there are bound to be critics. But the open house will give the architects and museum officials a chance to explain the design and the building's connection to the West. "We want to visit with the public about what we see as our mission and vision for this project," said Fox, 62, who took over as museum director about two months ago.

Near Scottsdale's art galleries
Built on top of a public parking garage, the Scottsdale Museum of the West would be adjacent to the Main Street Plaza condominiums and near the Main Street galleries. The project must get a rezoning approval by the Scottsdale City Council to amend the development standards for the site, which is about three-quarters of an acre. Initial designs for the museum were revealed late last year but the open-house sessions will be the first to get public feedback on the project. Scottsdale civic leaders have long been pursuing development of a Western museum for Scottsdale, which for a half-century touted itself as the "West's Most Western Town." "We should have the West's Most Western Museum" Fox said. His resume includes $90 million in fundraising and development of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky. Fox also held top leadership roles at the Heard Museum, Phoenix Art Museum and Museum of Northern Arizona, and developed two museums for the University of California at Berkeley.

Next stage needs: $15 million
The Museum of the West will need to raise about $15 million to get to the next stage of the project, doing the final designs for the facility. It will take about 18 months to build the museum and the goal is to start construction by Feb. 14, 2010, two years before the centennial, Fox said.
That would give the museum a chance for a soft opening before the centennial. "We just now have to raise some serious money to meet our objective," the museum director said.

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