Laguna Gloria breaks ground on new pavilion

As part of a master plan to transform its 14-acre Laguna Gloria site, The Contemporary Austin has broken ground on a new pavilion and other improvements meant to transform the entrance to the museum’s grounds, Austin arts and culture website Sightlines reported last week.

Located in a lakeside villa built in 1916 and donated in 1945 by Texas legend Clara Driscoll, the Laguna Gloria site of Contemporary Austin includes the well-regarded Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park. The Master Plan is being designed by Boston-based landscape architects Reed Hilderbrand.

The first stage of the project, which will take place over several years, is budgeted to cost $6 million, according to Sightlines; that phase will include a complete revamp of the entrance to the grounds, including a new entrance pavilion with a visitor admissions kiosk, a retail space, an outdoor café, additional restrooms, and extended canopies to povide shaded areas with seating for museum visitors.

Sightlines editor and founder Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, the Austin American-Statesman’s longtime arts critic, reported that the minimalist pavilion will be designed in a by New Orleans’s Trahan Architects of New Orleans and that the new entrance will include a sculptural installation into the streetscape along West 35th Street by artist Jessica Stockholder.

The structure, called Moody Pavilions in honor of a $3 million grant from the Moody Foundation, is expected to take one year to complete, Van Ryzin reported, and improvements will include creating sidewalks and parking spaces along West 35th Street.

• The Contemporary Austin breaks ground on Laguna Gloria master plan [Sightlines]