Ten designs for a new nonprofit art museum were unveiled on Monday.

“This museum is going to be an icon on Bainbridge Island,” said John Baker, president of Bainbridge Art Museum’s board, during a gathering of supporters at Bainbridge Performing Arts.

Set to open in the fall of 2011 as part of the Island Gateway development on Winslow Way, the museum will specialize in the works of living Bainbridge and Kitsap County artists.

“It will show art from our time, our place,” Baker said.

For more, read HERE.

The design illustration above depicts what the prominent northwest corner of the Winslow Way and Highway 305 intersection may look like in the near future.

A new art museum would anchor the front end (depicted at right) of the proposed Island Gateway project, with about 60,000 square feet of commercial space and a new home for the Kids Discovery Museum to the rear.

The project’s plans call for the removal of the five-acre site’s three existing structures. All new buildings would incorporate green design and the overall site plan features elements to reduce stormwater runoff into Winslow Ravine.

The city’s Design Review Board balked, saying the project’s design doesn’t fit the city’s preferred aesthetic for downtown. The board’s move doesn’t kill the project. The project’s developers, owner Bill Carruthers and architect Matthew Coates, will meet with the board next week to hash out some new ideas.

For my full story on the project, click here.

Below is a site plan showing the full project.