MUNCIE, Ind. -- A decorative piece of Muncie history will gain a new home on campus with the renovation and expansion of the Ball State University Museum of Art.

A stained-glass skylight saved from the old Ball Stores building downtown will be installed in the Fine Arts Building’s new two-story north entrance under construction this year.

“That stained-glass ceiling was wonderful in its original setting,” said Alain Joyaux, director of the Ball State Museum of Art. “It’s great to be able to save a piece of Muncie’s unique architectural heritage and reuse it in the same way it was originally used.”

The skylight was part of the turn-of-the-century Ball Stores building in downtown Muncie before the structure was demolished in 1989. The local Petty family kept many pieces from the building and is donating the skylight.

“It’s very typical of the Arts and Crafts period and American art glass,” Joyaux said about the glass ceiling. “Even though this structure was built in 1934, it is an Arts and Crafts style building. It will make sense architecturally as a whole.”

The Fine Arts Building’s new entryway facing Riverside Avenue will include a tower, a two-story atrium and a new open stairway leading to the art museum’s main level. The entrance will allow better public and disabled access to the museum.

New decorative windows will be installed in the tiled south wall of the building’s second-floor hallway, offering a view into the museum’s David T. Owsley Ethnographic Gallery.

“The window walls will make the museum more visible to the rest of the building,” Joyaux explained.

With the art department moving to the new Art and Journalism Building, the $7.5 million renovation of the Fine Arts Building will give the museum more galleries on the third floor for permanent and temporary exhibitions, including decorative arts.

Existing galleries are being remodeled, and new offices are being constructed on the third floor. The museum also will gain more room to store and prepare works of art.

Overall, the museum’s space will increase from 17,185 square feet to 25,735 square feet, including 5,230 square feet of extra exhibition space. The expansion will let the museum display more of its 11,000 works of art valued at more than $40 million.

The challenge is to achieve a consistent, seamless look and feel in the new and existing galleries so the rooms won’t distract visitors away from the art. That task involves matching everything from moldings to floor patterns while addressing subtle comfort elements.

“Museums are about the works of art, and they need to be the focal point of a visitor’s attention,” Joyaux said. “That’s not an easy thing to accomplish. When it’s all said and done, I want the renovation to be a successful secret. The visitor in 2002 and beyond should not see the difference between what’s old and what’s new.”

A sophisticated air handling and control system also is being installed in the building to protect the art collection.

The renovations are expected to be finished by the end of this year, and the museum’s entire collection will be reinstalled next year. Indianapolis-based Turner Construction Co. is working on the renovations. Project architects are Browning, Day, Mullins and Dierdorf of Indianapolis.

By Ted Buck, Communications Manager

(NOTE TO EDITORS: Print-quality renderings of the Fine Arts Building’s new north entrance can be downloaded from the Ball State University News Center on the World Wide Web. Go to www.bsu.edu/photoservices and follow the instructions.)