Nelson-Atkins Museum Bloch Building Enhancements

Steven Holl’s five glass lenses have been stepping down the Nelson-Atkins east lawn since 2007. Nineteen years in, the roof they sit under is being taken apart.

A $20 million grant from the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation is funding the first comprehensive refresh of the Bloch Building, with McCownGordon Construction running the work. The museum stays open for all of it.

Project Scope

Outside, the original waterproofing membrane comes out and a modern system goes in. The green roof above it gets fully replaced: soil, turf, native planting and hardscape. That is not a cosmetic job. The Bloch Building’s galleries sit under that assembly, and the whole architectural idea of the building depends on daylight coming through glass planes that have to stay dry.

Inside, the contemporary, photography and African galleries close and reopen on a rolling basis for wall repair, repainting and floor resurfacing. The Bloch Lobby, its amenities and the building entrances stay open throughout 2026.

Why It Matters

This is a live-facility phasing problem more than a construction problem. A museum can’t crate its collection and hand the building over, so the work is sequenced around gallery rotations and visitor circulation, and every phase boundary is a temporary wall and a dust barrier around irreplaceable art.

It is also a precursor. The museum has selected Weiss/Manfredi as lead architect for a separate campus expansion of roughly 61,000 square feet, budgeted at $160 to $170 million, chosen from a field of 183 entrants. Getting the Bloch Building’s envelope right first is what makes that expansion buildable against an intact campus rather than a leaking one. Twenty years is not a long life for a roof membrane, and the Nelson-Atkins is doing the boring thing at the right time.

Project Team & Details