As the Museum prepared for its first expansion, three interrelated characteristics lay at the core of the design challenge presented to Norman Foster and Partners of London: the need for functional, secure spaces specific to an art museum; the provision of public-service features, notably retail store and catering facility, insulated from galleries; and respect for the architectural character and integrity of the original building.

In a radical departure from his signature high-tech style, Foster proposed a solid rectangular form, similarly proportioned and parallel to the original building, to which it would be linked by a great glass room, or atrium, with exposed steel beams running the full length of the old north facade.  In addition to linking the two buildings, the atrium provided a bright space for a cafe and public circulation. The new structure was clad in the same Etowah Fleuri (Georgia Pink) marble as the 1931 Joslyn Building. The sculpture garden on the east side of campus was a 2009 addition.

The west end of the original building was different in scale and detail from the rest of the structure, with the wall plane breaking in and out several times. Foster saw the northwest corner as the fulcrum on which the addition would turn. He built forward from that corner, with the north and west faces of the glass atrium and the new Scott Pavilion continuing the rhythm of the 1931 Joslyn Building’s west facade.