May 15 – Engineering students at the University of Texas Permian Basin STEM Academy got a first-hand look at construction underway at the Ellen Noël Museum of Art on Wednesday.
The museum is currently undergoing the Capital Appreciation Project.
The event was part of the “Day On The Job” program that guides engineering students through a tour of the facility and interaction with representatives from Parkhill and Lee Lewis Construction.
Students were able to get an up-close and personal experience of the renovation taking place at the museum and had the opportunity to interact with professional engineers.
“Today, we took a tour of the facility with UTPB Stem Academy students,” said Jon Montgomery, director of marketing and development at the Ellen Noël Art Museum. “This was basically opening up our facility so that engineering students can ask our contractors and engineers questions about the renovation happening at Ellen Noël. We are cleaning everything. We’re moving on to the next part of construction.”
The project is expected to be completed in late 2025 or early 2026.
“We are very excited because this will not only make the museum more attractive, but it will also be a museum where we will increase our ability to provide educational programming and exhibits,” Montgomery said. “Education is of paramount importance to us here, so this will help us facilitate more educational opportunities.”
Montgomery said there were a lot of questions from students Wednesday about what it takes to take a project like this from idea to creation.
“These students grew up in Odessa and visited the museum throughout their lives,” Montgomery said. “Some of the questions they had were about how the spacing of the galleries is changing. In their heads, they can compare what they’ve seen in the past to what’s coming in the future.”
Parkhill is a multidisciplinary firm providing comprehensive architectural design and engineering services for projects in the government, commercial and institutional sectors.
Project architect and director of Parkhill RJ Lopez spoke more about the museum’s plans.
“The previous museum was about 20,000 square feet and we’re adding 12,000 square feet, so it will be about 32,000 square feet when we’re done,” Lopez said.
For him, it was a privilege to work on this project.
“It’s every architect’s dream to work in an art museum, especially one that pushes the boundaries and tries to serve the community with a better museum than what we had before,” Lopez said. “It’s been inspiring and a wonderful experience.”
