Westerly Museum of American Impressionism

Centerbrook was commissioned by private art collectors to transform a vacant physical rehabilitation facility on a peninsula along Rhode Island’s Pawcatuck River into a museum for their Impressionist paintings. The galleries will welcome the public to a cultural destination that also makes dramatic improvements to its waterfront setting.

As the rehab facility evolved during the 20^th century, its property became increasingly dominated by asphalt parking lots. Centerbrook’s design restores the landscape with meadow grasses that create a natural setting like those captured by the Impressionist painters. Its renovated exterior, with walls enlivened by rhythmic vertical battens, shakes off the institutional feel as it settles into the riverside surroundings with nautical blue siding and soft gray metal roofs.