This week marks the opening of Reno’s new Donald W. Reynolds Center for the Visual Arts E. L. Wiegand Gallery at the Nevada Museum of Art, designed by internationally renowned Will Bruder Architects Ltd. The new 60,000–square–foot, four–level building owes its striking form and color to the nearby Black Rock Desert. Its 68–foot–tall, 250–foot–long torqued exterior wall boasts a creased and folded black–patinaed zinc cladding, making it the first major North American building to use this type of skin. The center features 15,337 square feet of expanded gallery space, a 180–seat multimedia theater, library, museum store, and café, as well as ground-level and rooftop sculpture galleries offering views of Reno’s skyline and the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The gallery’s central atrium ranges in height from 59 to 63 feet, and houses a staircase allowing visitors to climb 55 feet to the fourth-floor rooftop landing. Lighted by five skylights, the stair is suspended by a single beam anchored in the ceiling. For museum–goers who wish to explore further the building’s zeitgeist, among the center’s inaugural exhibitions is “Beyond the Box: The Architecture of Will Bruder.”

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