Museum of Fine Arts

The Engagement

The fortuitous acquisition of a neighboring property, the 100-year-old Forsyth Building, prompted the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to retain Smith + St. John as project manager for a comprehensive, museum-wide, master planning effort. The intent was to develop a thoughtful plan for integrating the 117,000 square foot Forsyth building into the MFA campus while at the same time calculating the impact the additional real estate would have on operations in existing museum facilities. As the partnership between MFA and SStJ solidified, our role expanded substantially.

The Relationship

The Forsyth acquisition adds over 100,000 square feet to the museum’s portfolio of real estate. The effort involved a thorough architectural and engineering assessment of the building paired a comprehensive look at the MFA as an organization and how it can best utilize its real estate assets to further its programmatic goals. With the master planning complete, Smith + St. John was then retained to direct the implementation of a renovation program for the Forsyth Building. Furthermore, we were engaged for a number of additional initiatives in the main museum building. As an adjunct member of the MFA’s senior staff, we were entrusted with additional responsibilities including directing, or supporting as an in­-house team member, a range of activities:

• Engineering analysis of the historic, 117,000 square foot Forsyth building
• Organizational planning to define and respond to impacts of the adding to the museum’s real estate portfolio.
• Strategic planning for the MFA’s retail operations, the intent being to expand the function, enhance its performance, and better integrate it into the visitor experience.
• Facilities planning to reposition the museum’s West Wing.
• Design and construction of multiple projects that resulted from the planning efforts:
  • the museum’s main book store and shop
  • a new upscale retail shop at the Huntington entrance
  • gallery spaces, public circulation, and meeting spaces
• Leasing of Forsyth Building to a third party tenant (Northeastern University).
• Project management for core and shell renovations of historic Forsyth Building.
• Owner representation on Northeastern’s project team for the tenant improvements to the Forsyth Building in preparation for their occupancy.