Project Highlights

Location: U of M - Missoula, MT
Project Size: 17,000 SF

Completed: 2022

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The University of Montana's new Montana Museum of Art and Culture rose on the north side of campus near the Adams Center, built on a site previously used as a parking lot. Swank Enterprises served as general contractor on the $15 million, privately funded project, working from a design by Montana's A&E Architects — the firm also behind the Missoula Public Library and work on the state capitol.

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The 17,000-square-foot, three-level building called for a tightly sequenced build: a ground floor designed for open classroom access and public collection display, upper floors built out for rotating gallery exhibits, and site work extending a greenway connection down to the Clark Fork River. The building envelope incorporates a custom ceramic mural by artist Paul Lewing on its exterior.

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Swank broke ground in March 2022 and delivered the finished museum in 18 months, handing it over in time for a September 29, 2023 public opening — a fast turnaround for a ground-up cultural facility built to house and protect the state's largest and oldest public art collection, more than 11,000 pieces spanning 127 years.

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