July 11 was the kickoff for the Akron Art Museum's renovation of its 1899 building fronting Market Street, which will restore the historic building, add gallery space and create a hub for creativity and learning.

The $13 million renovation will transform the three-story, former post office building, adding more than 2,000 square feet of gallery space to the museum.

The museum event launched Create the Future, a project whose improvements will include the new J.M. Smucker Idea Machine, a creative studio that will foster intergeneration collaboration, play and learning.

What is The Idea Machine?, Where gallery space will expand, Museum to remain open during expansion, Background on the post office building

Jon Fiume, John S. Knight director and CEO of the Akron Art Museum, addresses the audience during a kickoff event for the renovation of the museum’s 1899 building.

"Behind me is a building that has weathered more than 125 years of Akron's evolution," Jon Fiume, the museum's Knight Foundation director and CEO, said in the lobby of the museum's adjacent, 2007 building. "This is more than a renovation. It's about what we believe that arts can do, how they shape us, challenge us, inspire us and bring us together."

The project will bring the historic building into the future further, not only with new spaces for interactive exhibitions and hands-on learning and classroom spaces, but also with technological, structural and accessibility upgrades.

Akron Mayor Shammas Malik tied the history of Akron's original post office building into last week's city bicentennial celebration, whose parade passed the historic building.

"Through this whole bicentennial process and through this new campaign, we are really leveraging that history and that past to create transformative experiences in our future," Malik said.

Akron Mayor Shammas Malik addresses the audience during a kickoff event for the renovation of the Akron Art Museum’s 1899 building.

Leading the project will be Perspectus Architecture, Process Creative Studios, Summit Construction, Wade Trim, Osborn Engineering, Barber & Hoffman engineering and APG Office Furnishings.

The goal of the renovation is to serve more people: The museum expects to double its annual visitors once the project is completed, from 50,000 to 100,000. Giving people more to see in several new gallery spaces will lead to longer visits for guests, museum officials said.

The aim to double the number of visitors each year applies to students, also. More classrooms and interactive learning opportunities will increase school tour capacity at the museum, with the hope that the number of students who visit each year will double from 5,000 to 10,000.

Alex Vukoder, the museum's chief advancement and communications officer, said the 1899 building holds both history and unrealized potential "in its bones."

"This renovation is our answer to the question, what if the museum could be more? What if it could be more welcoming, more collaborative, more alive with possibility?" she asked.

The project is all about providing the space for guests to interact with and see more art, Fiume said.

"This is a museum not to be missed. So we want to make sure that we are responding to what the needs are in today's times, making sure that we have some different type of experiences available while at the same time maintaining an outstanding collection. And having more space to show that collection is wonderful," Fiume said.

Jon Fiume, John S. Knight director and CEO of the Akron Art Museum, gives a champagne toast during a kickoff event for the renovation of the museum’s1899 building.

"We want people to spend more time here. We are the only modern, contemporary collecting art museum in Northeast Ohio. We have a phenomenal collection, a collection that punches above its weight, so I think any opportunity for us to strengthen the attraction or the reasons why you should come visit really benefits the entire region."

What is The Idea Machine?

One of the centerpieces of the Create the Future project will be the new, first-floor Idea Machine, an immersive space with a two-story ceiling that will open in fall 2026.

The name Idea Machine was inspired by a quote by mural artist Sol LeWitt, who said, "The idea becomes a machine that makes the art."

A blueprint for first-floor renovations in the historic 1899 building at the Akron Art Museum.

The goal for the innovative space is to inspire museum goers to have a deeper experience with art, Fiume said.

"How can you have an experience at this museum that is different than just walking the galleries and looking at art?" he asked. "How do we make it a multigenerational space where people can view in the classical sense but also explore and create?"

The first hands-on installation in the Idea Machine will be by CHIAOZZA, a husband-wife artistic duo who will create colorful, playful, interactive pieces, including very large sculptures, that invite guests to touch and experiment.

"We want the experience to feel like you've stepped in and that you're a part of it," Vukoder said.

Attendees at a kickoff event for the renovation of the Akron Art Museum’s 1899 building watch a video on changes coming to the building.

CHIAOZZA artists Adam Frezza and Terri Chiao established their studio in 2011 in Brooklyn, New York, in 2011, where they create artwork often inspired by nature in vibrant colors and organic forms. Their work appears everywhere from Coachella to Central Park installations.

Each Idea Machine installation will be at the Akron Art Museum for nearly a year. A large classroom near the Idea Machine will have glass walls so the public can view activities inside.

Where gallery space will expand

The new Idea Machine space on the 1899 building's first floor and three new, small galleries on the second floor will expand the museum's galleries by more than 2,000 square feet.

The museum's permanent collection, whose works date back to 1850, is now seen throughout multiple galleries in the newer building. Once the three new galleries open, the collection will have more space.

A blueprint for second-floor renovations at the Akron Art Museum's 1899 building includes three new galleries.

The new galleries also can host traveling exhibitions.

The first-floor McDowell Gallery, which previously showed the permanent collection, will be renovated as the McDowell Digital Gallery to focus on digital art. The space, also referred to as the black box gallery, will be flexible and allow for different types of art installations and arts performances.

A larger focus on digital art is also part of the museum's mission to change with the times.

"We are responding to what the public is interested in today. That's why you see a little bit of a digital focus," Fiume said.

The former McDowell Gallery closed about two years ago because the museum could not maintain its humidity or air conditioning with its older mechanical systems. A new HVAC system will allow that space, which had been converted to classroom space, to be used again for art.

The renovation project also will tie together mechanical systems in both buildings for the first time. The new and old buildings also will be more connected with the help of glass walls that will allow guests in the main lobby to see views into the adjacent 1899 building.

Museum to remain open during expansion

Akron Mayor Shammas Malik and Jon Fiume, John S. Knight director and CEO of the Akron Art Museum, chat before posing for a photo during a kickoff event for the renovation of the museum’s 1899 building.

The museum will stay open for the entire project, which will run for about a year. The newer, 2007 museum building will continue with all exhibitions and programming.

In the museum's three-story glass and steel lobby, a wood construction tunnel running from the back door up through a lobby walkway to the 1899 building will protect the art and visitors from dust. It will also be the pathway for construction supplies and materials enter the building.

Museum staff have moved out of the 1899 building and are working in the lobby and in shared work spaces throughout the museum. Next year, all of the offices will be housed on the renovated 1899 building's third floor, which will feature glass walls.

Third-floor windows facing Broadway and Market that had been covered up inside with drywall will be opened up as part of the renovation.

Windows on the first and second exhibition floors also will have the option to be opened up or closed, depending on lighting needs for exhibitions. The 1899 building's window frames also will be repaired.

Joe Walton, director of design, Jenny Gerow, chief curator, and Jon Fiume, John S. Knight director and CEO of the Akron Art Museum, get ready for a photo during a kickoff event for the renovation of the Akron Art Museum’s 1899 building.

Background on the post office building

The Akron Art Museum originally moved into the brick former post office building in 1981, after a renovation by Dalton, van Dijk, Johnson & Partners of Cleveland. The Italian Renaissance Revival-style building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Its exterior walls are deep red brick, laid in the Flemish Bond pattern and adorned with limestone trim. A mosaic depicting a Pony Express rider remains imbedded in its lobby floor.

Support for the historic building renovation comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the state of Ohio, J.M. Smucker company, Lehner Family Foundation, Goodyear Foundation, GAR Foundation, Tom Merryweather, Howland Memorial Fund, PNC, Edward Russell Trust, Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation, Burton D. Morgan Foundation, Allan and Janice Woll Family Fund, Anthony and Susan Paparella and Susan B. Kruder Trust.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or [email protected].