Design of Museum Building Still Uncertain

Architect Renzo Piano will not unveil the design for the Newport Harbor Art Museum’s new building March 28 as previously announced, a museum spokeswoman said Thursday.

The museum board of trustees had planned to approve the design at its January meeting, but reaching an agreement has taken longer than anticipated, according to spokeswoman Maxine Gaiber. Gaiber added that museum director Kevin Consey flew to Italy last month to confer with the architect. The board is now scheduled to vote on it March 30, she said.

Piano will still speak at UC Irvine March 28 as scheduled. His talk will be part of the lecture series “Artworks or Containers: Issues in Contemporary Museum Architecture.”