The opening of the extremely anticipated Rubell Museum marks the revival of the historic Randall Junior Excessive Faculty constructing that sat untouched since 2006.

Why it issues: The museum has been a very long time coming since artwork world energy couple Don and Mera Rubell bought the historic Black college constructing in Southwest D.C. 12 years in the past to deal with their in depth modern artwork assortment.

• Along with the museum, the Rubells personal an adjoining 492-unit condominium constructing that’s at present being developed. Set to open in early 2023, it should embrace 98 inexpensive models.

Flashback: Earlier than D.C., the Rubells, who made their fortune because of Don’s brother’s hospitality enterprise (entrepreneur Steve Rubell additionally co-owned the legendary New York disco Studio 54), opened their first artwork museum in Miami — which spawned huge improvement within the Wynwood neighborhood.

What they did: The Rubells introduced on Hany Hassan, the director of Beyer Blinder Belle’s D.C. workplace, because the lead designer. Hassan is understood for revitalizing historic buildings throughout the District, together with an enlargement of Arlington Nationwide Cemetery and the Washington Monument Customer’s Middle.

State of play: The Randall Faculty’s fundamental constructing and two adjoining wings had been handed over throughout a Nineteen Fifties city renewal undertaking and had since fallen into disrepair.

• Hassan tells Axios the roof had to get replaced, and each brick of the constructing has been refurbished.
• The constructing has additionally acquired accessibility upgrades.
• The 4,000-square-foot auditorium will likely be used to current large-scale artwork and performances. In the meantime, academics’ workplaces and lecture rooms have been reworked into galleries.

Different areas within the museum embrace a brand new glass pavilion entrance, a bookstore, an eventual bakery, and a terrace for neighborhood gatherings.

What they’re saying: With the renovation, “the constructing is extra of an envelope which represents the artwork,” Hassan tells Axios.

• “Everybody can actually take pleasure in this constructing in a way that was as soon as a beacon. It’s actually transformative within the Southwest space, due to the size of the undertaking,” he provides.

The museum’s inaugural exhibit is a throwback to the constructing’s roots.

Particulars: The exhibit, “What’s Going On,” attracts its title from a 1971 album by Marvin Gaye, who attended Randall Junior Excessive Faculty.

• The album was a critique of the Vietnam Warfare and likewise an exploration of poverty, substance use, and social injustices.

The exhibit itself is launched with Keith Haring’s “Untitled (Towards All Odds)” 1989 assortment of 20 works, during which Haring cites the affect of Gaye’s album on his artwork.

• Haring’s sequence inside the museum is devoted to Don Rubell’s brother Steve who, like Haring, died from an AIDs-related sickness. Gaye’s music will play all through the gallery crammed with Haring’s work.

Thirty-seven different artists, whose works reply to social and political points, are additionally represented, together with D.C.-born Cady Noland.

• This exhibit spans three flooring with every opening as much as a hallway with half a dozen doorways snaking off into former lecture rooms, now transformed into galleries.

The massive image: The museum’s galleries retain authentic wooden flooring and brick archways with huge home windows that filter in pure mild.

The constructing’s basement is probably probably the most attractive areas. It stays virtually solely brick and presents an eerie ambiance, because the wooden flooring above creaks from the footsteps of different guests.

How you can go to: The museum is free for D.C. residents ($10-$15 for non-residents). The closest Metro stations are Navy Yard and Waterfront, each a 10-minute stroll.

• Whereas the museum’s bakery isn’t purposeful but, the realm offers a myriad of lunch choices, similar to Station 4, grab-and-go Spherical Pocket Arepas proper outdoors the Waterfront Metro, and fast-casual choices together with Rasa, Cava, and &pizza outdoors Navy Yard.