The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) has taken major steps toward bringing to life an ambitious 12-acre cultural district – the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum.Upon completion, the multiphase master plan for the new arts and performance complex will include two museums, a performance hall and music building, a grand plaza and a dedicated parking structure on the Richardson campus.
UT Dallas leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday for Phase I of the O’Donnell Athenaeum in celebration of the opening of a second location for the Crow Museum of Asian Art. The Phase I building serves as the anchor museum forwhat will be known as the UT Dallas Art Museums.Designed by architectural firm Morphosis, the new facility showcases an array of innovative Asian art exhibitions. It also features selections from the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) and UT Dallas’ founding families, along with objects from the University’s growing collection of Latin American art and works from renowned Dallas photographer Carolyn Brown.
The Crow Museum of Asian Art (and other galleries) will open to the public today (Wednesday, Sept. 25) at 11 a.m. Admission is free, as it is at the Crow Museum’s original downtown location, which will continue its active and vibrant presence on Flora Street in the Dallas Arts District.
Also launched today was Phase II of the O’Donnell Athenaeum. Leaders broke ground on a state-of-the-art performance hall and music building that will become part of the UT Dallas Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology. It is projected to open in fall 2026.
“We are grateful for the immense generosity and vision of our donors, including the O’Donnell Foundation, the Crow family and others, for providing the foundation for the arts initiative at UT Dallas, which will benefit not only our campus community, but the North Texas community and beyond,” said Dr. Richard C. Benson, UT Dallas President and Eugene McDermott Distinguished University Chair of Leadership. “Expanding and enhancing arts facilities and infrastructure was a cornerstone of our strategic plan, and this opening is a tremendous step forward in that process.”
UT Dallas expands its vision and enhances its curriculum by embracing the arts
With its location on the southeast corner of the main entrance, the O’Donnell Athenaeum will serve as a gateway to the campus while fostering engagement in the arts and learning for students, faculty and staff, neighbors and North Texans, and visitors from across the globe.
The Phase I building, which includes the Crow Museum of Asian Art collection and additional galleries, is the first cultural building completed as part of the O’Donnell Athenaeum, and it is supported in large part by a $32 million gift from the O’Donnell Foundation. The cultural complex is being constructed in three phases:
- Phase I (UT Dallas Art Museums) – A two-story, 57,000-square-foot building with exhibition space that more than doubles the Crow Museum’s current gallery space in its downtown Dallas Arts District location. It also includes dedicated gallery space for the UT Dallas Art Museums galleries, along with a conservation studio and more.
- Phase II – A two-story performance hall and music building with a 680-seat performance hall, an outdoor performance space, rehearsal rooms, practice rooms, teaching studios, percussion studio, recording studio, administrative offices, classrooms, multifunctional lobby space, study spaces and student lounge. Phase II provides about 66,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor program space.
- Phase III – A future museum building as well as a parking structure that will include two levels above grade and one basement level walkout that will serve the O’Donnell Athenaeum and the campus.
Dr. Inga H. Musselman, UT Dallas provost, vice president for academic affairs and the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair of Academic Leadership, said students will be major beneficiaries of the O’Donnell Athenaeum – now, and in the future.
“This complex, like our entire campus, will be a place of learning and growth,” she said. “I envision students walking through the museums during their class breaks or taking notes about pieces of art that are displayed here. The performance hall and music building will provide even more opportunities for students.”
As the principal architect, Morphosis is a globally renowned firm founded by 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Thom Mayne. Led by design partner Arne Emerson, Morphosis developed the master plan for the O’Donnell Athenaeum, as well as designing the buildings within. The firm has deep experience working with higher education institutions and museums. (Morphosis was the architect of record for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.)Partnering with Morphosis is GFF, the local architect.
Dallas-based The Beck Group is leading construction as the project’s general contractor with its joint venture partner, EJ Smith Construction.
Morphosis’ design for the Athenaeum master plan imagines a cultural hub that will redefine how art, music and knowledge are created and shared at the University. Once finished, the landscaped arts plaza and open spaces will work in concert with the buildings to create open, welcoming spaces that foster curiosity and encourage multidisciplinary interaction and learning.
"The O'Donnell Athenaeum was designed as an inviting gateway to inspire creativity and connection," said Arne Emerson, Design Partner at Morphosis. "By enabling visibility into the learning and creative processes within, and providing a variety of spaces for both planned and spontaneous interaction, we aimed to make the arts an integral part of the daily campus experience. We look forward to seeing the transformative impact of UT Dallas's ambitious vision as it takes shape in these new facilities."
Designed for transparency and natural light, the Phase I museum uses large expanses of glass and lightwells in the galleries, lobby and Brettell Reading Room to create a strong connection between the art, visitors and passersby. By placing the galleries on the second floor, expansive covered exterior spaces engage with the campus, offering year-round areas for art, studying and events.
The building features a distinctively patterned, white precast concrete cladding on all sides that is informed by the surrounding context and responds to the ever-changing light of the Texas skies. The facade’s textured and sandblasted finish creates a more intimate sense of scale that relates to buildings and materials across campus, creating a holistic identity for the master plan. The facade uses custom-designed precast concrete panels created locally by GATE Precast of Hillsboro, Texas.
The joining of two institutions and the birth of the O’Donnell Athenaeum
The Crow Museum is one of the few entities in the U.S. – and the largest in the Southwest – solely dedicated to Asian art.
Its rich history began in 1998 when the Crow Museum of Asian Art (named in honor of Margaret and Trammell Crow) opened its doors in the downtown Dallas Arts District. Avid collectors for decades, the Crows were lauded for generously sharing their beloved collection free of charge to the public. The collection includes thousands of works and artifacts – spanning ancient to contemporary – along with a comprehensive library of books, journals and written documents.
Over the past two decades, the museum has continued to grow its collection through new acquisitions, with a mission to raise the visibility of Asian and Asian-American artists.
In 2019, the Crow family donated the museum’s entire collection for a second museum on the UT Dallas campus. The joining of the two institutions and the idea for the O’Donnell Athenaeum was championed by the late Dr. Richard Brettell, who was the founding director of the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History at UT Dallas.
Crow Museum of Asian Art to feature numerous galleries, a multimedia space and a conservation studio
The new Crow Museum of Asian Art on the UT Dallas campus is the first major art museum located north of Interstate 635 and in close proximity to the Collin County and northern Dallas County suburbs.
The Crow Museum of Asian Art is a component of Phase I of the O’Donnell Athenaeum. The Phase I building also includes the beginnings of an outdoor sculpture garden and 12 galleries – eight Crow Museum galleries and four other galleries. The structure includes the Brettell Reading Room, a dedicated art object study room, a conservation studio, a seminar room, the Lotus Shop, lecture and event areas, covered outdoor space, multifunctional lobby space, storage and vault facilities, and administrative offices.
“This day celebrates the many decades of Trammell and Margaret Crow’s deep love for learning and dedication to fostering understanding and compassion in our world. By sharing their collection beyond its original home in the Dallas Arts District onto the UTD campus we will continue to reach the minds and hearts of new generations,” said Amy Lewis Hofland, senior director of the Crow Museum of Asian Art. “Since arriving on the footsteps of UT Dallas, we have expanded our vision of what a campus museum looks like – in the scope of collections, student engagement, and community outreach with unparalleled support from university leadership.”
The Crow Museum’s first major exhibition is Ancient Echoes, Modern Voices: The Crow Collection Goes Beyond, which introduces its permanent collections to new audiences. The inaugural display features eight galleries showcasing hundreds of works, ranging from textiles and ceramics to sculptures and paintings, and includes an immersive multimedia installation.
The galleries are co-conceived by Crow Museum senior director Amy Lewis Hofland, and by the museum’s curator, Dr. Natalia Di Pietrantonio, who was former assistant curator of South Asian art at the Seattle Art Museum. Exhibition design for the galleries was also provided by Morphosis, working in close collaboration with the museum team.
UT Dallas students and faculty will play an integral role at the museum. Academic curriculum – focusing on Asian art, history and culture – will complement the museum offerings. Students will have the opportunity to serve as volunteers and interns and to assist with major installations.
Additionally, the Crow Museum will be available for field trips and educational programs for schoolchildren.
O’Donnell Athenaeum’s Phase I to introduce university partnership with the DMA and showcase UT Dallas’ growing Latin American art collection
The O’Donnell Athenaeum also commemorates a relationship that the founding families of UT Dallas – the McDermotts, Greens and Jonssons – formed with the DMA decades prior to the university’s opening. As a result, the O’Donnell Athenaeum has formed a multiyear partnership with the DMA, whose inaugural exhibition celebrates the commonalities between UT Dallas, the DMA and the three families, illustrating how their contributions to both industry and the arts greatly affected the trajectory of Dallas.
Additional gallery space showcases UT Dallas’ growing Latin American art collection, which includes donations from The Roger Horchow Family Collection (Dallas) and The Laura and Dan Boeckman Collection of Latin American Folk Art (Dallas).
Phase II to bring performance hall and music building to UT Dallas campus
Phase II of the O’Donnell Athenaeum – defined as a space for cultivating knowledge, culture and the arts – will bring to campus a 680-seat music performance hall, designed with a vineyard-style configuration to accommodate live music. Seating will be arranged on all sides of the stage, providing closer connections between musicians and audience members.
The music building will also offer an array of learning and study environments with opportunities for interactions and gatherings. Its north-south oriented bar-shaped section on the second level will face the plaza, which will be built during Phase III. The structure will house two large rehearsal rooms, solo rehearsal rooms, a percussion studio, teaching classrooms, a recording studio, a student study lounge, and a variety of spaces for learning, studying and impromptu musical performances.
“The new performance hall and music building will become a hub of creativity,” said Dr. Nils Roemer, dean of the Bass School, director of the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, the Arts, Humanities, and Technology Distinguished University Chair, and the Stan and Barbara Rabin Distinguished Professor in Holocaust Studies. “It will elevate the arts experience with a world-class stage for students and faculty. It will provide opportunities for us to showcase our incredible talent on campus, attract distinguished performers and engage the broader Dallas community. Designed with a focus on interconnectedness, the classrooms, rehearsal rooms and studios will enable teaching, learning and performing to take place seamlessly."
General information
A full-color, 248-page “Handbook to the Collection” is available for purchase in the Lotus Shop.
UT DALLAS ART MUSEUMS ON THE RICHARDSON CAMPUS. The UT Dallas Art Museums, which include the second location of the Crow Museum of Asian Art, will open to the public tomorrow (Wednesday, Sept. 25) at 11 a.m. Operating hours are Tuesdays-Sundays (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.). The museum is closed on Mondays. Admission is free. The UT Dallas Art Museums is located at 800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, Texas 75080.
CROW MUSEUM OF ASIAN ART IN THE DOWNTOWN DALLAS ARTS DISTRICT. The Crow Museum of Asian Art in the Dallas Arts District is open Tuesdays-Sundays (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.). The museum is closed on Mondays. Admission is free. It is located at 2010 Flora St., Dallas, Texas 75201.
For information on both museums, please go to oda.UTDallas.edu or call 972-883-6430.