Designed by Beck Architecture and PBK with Yann Weymouth FAIA
Exciting news for fans of surrealism: The Dalí Museum announced plans for a $65 million, 35,000 square-foot expansion that includes a new exterior, more galleries, and a dedicated education center.
Plans for the expansion go back to 2019, making the announcement a long-anticipated event for the St. Petersburg institution.
“We are creating a museum that will stand with the great cultural institutions of the world, prepared to meet the expectations of today’s visitors and the curiosity of those who will walk through these doors decades from now,” Hank Hine, Executive Director of The Dalí Museum, said in a news release. “This is a defining moment for our institution and for St. Petersburg. It’s not about being bigger; it’s about being bolder. For more than four decades, The Dalí has led through innovation, empowering visitors to see differently and think expansively. This next chapter allows us to move beyond existing limitations and create space, intellectually and physically, for deeper learning, more ambitious experiences and broader access.”
Designed by Beck Architecture and PBK with Yann Weymouth FAIA
The Dalí Museum Plans Expansion
The museum tapped architecture firm The Beck Group to design and build the expansion. Beck Architecture constructed the museum’s landmark 2011 building and while designing the expansion, consulted with Yann Weymouth, architect of the award-winning building.
The building will expand to the south, with new gallery spaces that will feature interactive installations that blend art and technology, which will double as event space that can hold 400 people. A flexible Learning Center for intimate programs for kids age K-12 and adults can expand to accommodate 300 people.
“The exterior design, what we call Reveal, plays with expectation,” said Trevor Lamphier, AIA, Design Principal at The Beck Group. “It extends and reinterprets the existing building, using familiar materials in new ways to create moments of discovery. Like Dalí’s work, the architecture invites a double take, rewarding curiosity and encouraging visitors to slow down and look again. This expansion is about creating an environment that inspires wonder, deepens engagement and strengthens the Museum’s role as an anchor for the community.”
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Designed by Beck Architecture and PBK with Yann Weymouth FAIA
The expansion “represents a $65 million investment in the Museum’s future,” according to a news release. The budget includes funds from Visit St. Pete-Clearwater’s From Visitors With Love initiative that reinvests tourist development tax dollars.
Groundbreaking is expected in fall 2026, with a planned opening of the new spaces in 2018. The museum will remain open during the expansion.
A 3D model of the proposed expansion will be on view beginning May 2, 2026, as part of “The Architecture of The Dalí,” an exhibition that traces the museum’s evolution and plans for the future.
The Dalí Museum opened in 1982 and in 2011, reopened in its now landmark building that doubled the museum’s size, fortified it from hurricane impact and added its signature large glass geodesic bubble on the exterior, known as the Enigma.
To learn more visit expansion.thedali.org.
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