ROANOKE, VA.- The Art Museum of Western Virginia announced today that the erection of roof structural steel and ZEPPS (Zahner Engineered Profiled Panel System) continues with approximately 10 percent of the steel and panels installed. Installation of the stainless steel roofing panels for the building and the erection of primary structural and roof steel for Element 1, the new Art Museum’s soaring glass atrium, is scheduled to begin by the end of May.

ZEPPS is a system of modular units that attach directly to the roof structural steel and will define the new Art Museum roof’s undulating shape. The panels are prefabricated by the roofing subcontractor and include self-supporting structures that become part of the roof’s structural steel, as well as critical insulation and water-proofing elements for the roof. Once the panels and the remaining roofing substructure are in place, the building is ready for the stainless steel roof application by A. Zahner Company, which has worked on many fascinating architectural and sculptural projects utilizing metal as a major design material.

Element 1, the final element to be erected, houses the atrium and lobby, concourse, museum store, and a portion of the caf�. Element 2 houses the first floor auditorium, theater and lobby, equipment platforms, primary mechanical spaces, and the second floor art galleries, including the contemporary gallery. Element 3 of the building design houses the library, boardroom, boardroom terrace, director’s office, temporary galleries, Art Venture, and a portion of the caf�.

Element 4 houses back of house mechanical rooms, housekeeping areas, art storage and the catering kitchen, third floor reception and administrative offices, and several small galleries, including the prints and photography, regional decorative arts, Leiber handbag collection, and modernism galleries. Elements 5 and 6 together house the art loading and service docks, new media gallery and American art gallery.

A half scale model of the new Art Museum’s roof at the intersection of Elements 3 and 6 is on exhibit in the Art Museum’s current facility as part of the Process and Promise in a New Art Museum exhibition. The Art Museum galleries are open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Admission is $3 per person Tuesday through Saturday and free on Sundays.

Scheduled to open to the public in the fall of 2008, the new Art Museum of Western Virginia building will be a dramatic composition of flowing, layered forms in steel, patinated zinc and high-performance glass paying sculptural tribute to the famous Blue Ridge Mountains that provide Roanoke’s backdrop and shape the region’s spirit. The 81,000 square foot structure designed by Los Angeles architect Randall Stout will be the first purpose-built art museum ever constructed in Roanoke. The new facility will house significantly larger exhibition and education spaces, a flexible theater/programming space, a multi-purpose auditorium, a research library, a book and gift shop, a studio classroom, a works on paper study room, and a caf� with indoor and outdoor seating. All exhibition and education spaces will be wired to provide real-time, interactive distance learning experiences via high speed network to classrooms across the region and the state.