The museum is expected to cost $40 million to $45 million, and more than $33 million has been raised so far. The museum’s namesake couple have donated $28 million to the project, which first was announced in June 2007.

Now, three months of excavation has produced a 22-foot deep hole, which currently is surrounded by a retaining wall to prevent dirt from sliding into it. Utility work also is being done in the construction area, which is located across from Student Services.

“The main thing for us was the mass excavation and putting in the retaining wall,” Stanford said.

A concrete mud mat also has been put in place to waterproof the site before the below-ground addition of the main structural foundation and walls. Construction on above-ground walls is expected to begin by August, but Stanford said the walls will be internal, allowing those who pass by to see the museum’s interior before exterior walls are added.

“If you see a house being built, you might see a fireplace but there’s no outside walls,” Stanford said. “You’re going to see some of the inside come up from the ground. It’s going to be very exciting to watch.”

Several of the walls will be slanted about 75 degrees, a unique feature, said Kevin Waldman, project director for the museum from Southfield, Mich., construction management firm Barton Malow.

“They are for architectural purposes, but different (in) the fact they are visible,” Waldman said. “A lot more effort is going into what they look like than the structural properties.”

The concrete work should last until November, Waldman said.

The exterior of the building is expected to be finished by December 2011, at which point the building is expected to be substantially complete.

Although the project is scheduled to be finished within the 20-month timeline, the grand opening will not be until spring 2012, as the settings inside the museum must carefully be calibrated to accommodate the art inside, Stanford said.

“You have to take time to calibrate humidity and air quality inside, you have to get the building ready to receive art,” she said. “The sculptures are a lot less sensitive than painting, the most sensitive are drawing and photographs and prints that are several years old.”

Inside the museum, the focus will be on art created since 1945, Stanford said.

The university currently owns 7,000 pieces of art, although not all of the pieces belong to separate works.

The decision of what pieces will be shown at the museum, at what time is the responsibility of the collection director and museum curator.

Both positions have yet to be filled, said Stanford, who is chair of the search committee looking for potential candidates. An announcement for the open position is out, and the hiring process will begin later this summer.

The College of Arts and Letters will have control over the educational aspects of the museum, and the museum will complement learning within the college, said Karin Wurst, the college’s dean, in an e-mail. Wurst said the college will work with the museum’s director and curator, once they are hired, to work out educational components.

“Logic, analysis and sequential thinking have to be supplemented with experiences that foster synthesis and emotional responses,” Wurst said.

“This kind of teaching and learning is designed to empower our students to grasp the larger context and the big picture in whatever field they enter.”