$100 Million Dollar Expansion Planned For The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has a design firm in place for its upcoming $100 million expansion.

The institution on Friday, Dec. 18, announced that New York-based Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) will design an expansion that will increase by about one-third the Rock Hall's footprint on the shore of Lake Erie. (Go here for renderings of the expansion of the original building designed by I.M. Pei.)

In a news release, the Rock Hall characterized the expansion and the selection of PAU as "a pivotal moment for the museum, the community and for individuals who champion education and the preservation of rock and roll history."

Greg Harris, president and CEO of the Rock Hall, said in a statement, "Our impact has been great on visitors, students and the community over the last 25 years, and it's now time to expand our physical space. We are excited to join with PAU, one of the world's top architectural design firms, as we build on this success and look forward to the next 100 years."

Vishaan Chakrabarti, founder and creative director of PAU, added, "We are beyond ecstatic to have been selected by the Rock Hall to design the expansion of I.M. Pei's heart of glass, which sits aglow upon Cleveland's storied industrial waterfront, particularly in light of the architectural luminaries against whom we had the honor of competing. This is PAU's stairway to heaven."

The Rock Hall chose PAU after submitting an RFQ to 22 firms. PAU's partners in the project will be James Corner Field Operations (the firm behind the renovation of Public Square), Cooper Robertson, and L'Observatoire International.

The Rock Hall said the expansion will add the following to the structure: 10,000 square feet for large-scale traveling exhibits; open space for event and education programming; on-site archives for visitors to access the collection; creation of a "museum campus" with the neighboring Great Lakes Science Center; lakefront gathering space; interactive learning classrooms; and event spaces for indoor performances, community gatherings and private rentals.

The design concept for the project "will continue to evolve," the Rock Hall said in the release, but the plans "represent the space and function needed to support the museum's growth in all aspects of the mission."

Work began on the 50,000-square-foot addition with the city of Cleveland in early 2019 to secure the 1-acre plot between the Rock Hall and the Great Lakes Science Center. The land can accommodate about 65,000 square feet of museum expansion, the Rock Hall said.

PAU will work on designs throughout 2021, with construction launching in early 2022 with the Robert P. Madison firm of Cleveland as architect of record.