Harvard Art Museums, comprising the Fogg Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, is currently undergoing a renovation and expansion project and will reopen in Q3 2014.

Designed by architect Renzo Piano, the project will bring the three museums under one roof for the first time.

The new facility will feature expanded permanent collection galleries along with galleries programmed in consultation with students and faculty and flexible spaces that will incorporate the use of technology for installations, programmes and performances.

More than 12,000 sq ft (1,115 sq m) of new exhibition space will be added, increasing the Harvard Art Museums' gallery space by 40 per cent to 204,000 sq ft (18,952 sq m).

A central feature of the updated facility is an enhanced and expanded art study centre that will make thousands of little-seen works from the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Sackler museums available for hands-on study. Occupying most of the fourth floor, the centre will include three study rooms, two seminar rooms and a large reception area.

Other new features include three teaching galleries on the third floor. The galleries, which will be open to the public, will devote 3,000sq ft (279sq m) to support student coursework, curatorial studies, and the work of the new art study centre.

As part of the new configuration, one gallery, will be dedicated to the course goals of Harvard's History of Art and Architecture program. The second gallery will link directly to the mission of the new art study centre and will offer faculty and students a space in which to study particular works of art. The third gallery will act as a curatorial laboratory where students can study in close detail the "art of installation," developing their own exhibitions.

Thomas W. Lentz director of the Harvard Art Museums said that the new study centre will offer visitors a new way to engage with art.

"In a study centre people tend to look differently, they linger, and they look more deeply.

"The study centre is one of the powerful engines of this new facility because it will create new kinds of teaching and learning experiences and foster collaborations and connections across different fields and disciplines at Harvard."