HOUSTON (AP) – Houston’s Menil Collection has unveiled design plans for a drawing institute, which will be devoted to the exhibit, study, storage and conservation of artworks on paper.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the design for the $40 million Menil Drawing Institute on the art museum’s campus will feature a roof of thin steel plate that resembles a piece of folded paper.

Menil director Josef Helfenstein says, “It’s very respectful of the environment and yet it really opens up the campus into a new phase.”

Half of the building’s about 30,000 square feet will be for underground storage, while the ground level will contain a living room, an exhibit space, a scholar’s cloister, rooms for seminars and other events, and a conservation lab.

Construction is set to begin in early 2015.

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Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.houstonchronicle.com

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AP-WF-02-20-14 1219GMT

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