Mario Botta at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art’s “Architecture and Memory” opening.

The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art occupies a prominent space at the Levine Center for the Arts, and has become a noted façade within the Charlotte cityscape. Ever wonder how it was built? Who designed it? Or what went into its construction?

Now is your chance to find out as the Bechtler presents the “Behind-the-Scenes Story of Building the Bechtler,” a lecture by David Wagner, president of Wagner Murray Architects, the firm responsible for construction of the museum. The lecture will take place Monday, May 12th at 6:30 p.m. in the fourth-floor gallery. A cash bar reception will begin at 6 p.m.  Tickets are free for museum members and $8 for non-members.

“Mario Botta: Architecture and Memory.”

This lecture is presented in conjunction with the exhibition “Mario Botta: Architecture and Memory,” now on view until July 25. The exhibition explores the Bechtler Museum’s own building, “the single largest object in our collection” according to John Boyer, president and CEO of the Bechtler, and architect Mario Botta who designed it. “Behind-the-Scenes Story of Building the Bechtler” offers the chance to delve deeper into the narrative of the Bechtler’s construction, as Wagner will recount his firm’s role in working with Mario Botta and the museum’s namesake/patron Andreas Bechtler. Wagner has been a practicing architect in Charlotte for more than 40 years, and Wagner Murray Architects has produced and designed a number of notable projects within Uptown Charlotte, including the 7th Street Parking Deck, South Tryon Square, Levine Museum of the New South and The Green.