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OMA’s new museum extension in New York, described as a paired addition to the existing SANAA-designed New Museum at 235 Bowery, with a gallery sequence and public circulation spaces presented through a large image gallery.

new museum extension . new york

Expanded

OMA describes this New York project as a new addition to the New Museum next door to the existing SANAA-designed building at 235 Bowery. The extension is meant to respond to the museum’s growth in visitors, exhibitions, and activities, including its education programs, NEW INC, and exhibition program, by providing much-needed space for those expanded activities and by reflecting the institution’s increasingly public ambitions.

The project is framed as a pair rather than a simple contrast between old and new. OMA says the usual dichotomies of museum expansion can limit what the two parts can become together, so it looked instead for a relationship that is less didactic and more unexpected, even romantically entangled. In that sense, the two parts might work in several ways: one could be highly infrastructural and support the other, the two could be equal and in harmony, or they could remain distinct and independent while still being reciprocal.

The design is presented as complementary to the adjoining SANAA building while still asserting its own identity. OMA says the New Museum will function as a synergistic pair, working spatially and programmatically in tandem. The required programs are stacked at the same level as the existing building, including three floors of galleries, a permanent home for NEW INC, offices, and multifunctional education and event spaces, so that new and old are conjoined. The ceiling heights of the newly connected galleries align with those of the existing building, reinforcing the connection between the two.

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new museum extension . new york

oma

oma.com

Edited

Our first cultural institution in New York is a new addition to the New Museum next door to its iconic SANAA-designed building at 235 Bowery. The New Museum has been growing in visitors, exhibitions, and activities. Its diverse engagements, including its expansive education programs, its cultural incubator NEW INC, and, of course, its globally recognized exhibition program have been transforming the institution into a cultural laboratory. We were asked to add a new building that provides much-needed space for its expanded activities and simultaneously reflects increasingly public ambitions—duplicating the program and square footage on a site immediately adjacent to the existing SANAA-designed building—part and counterpart, side-by-side.

This condition was entrenched in dichotomies. While dichotomies are inherent to museum expansions, they can suppress the full potential of the pair. We looked to less didactic, more unexpected, and maybe even romantically entangled relationships that could exist between two parts of a whole. Can one be highly infrastructural to give support and free agency to the other? Can it be two equal entities in complete harmony? Can the two be distinct and independent but reciprocal as a pair?

Our approach complements and respects the integrity of the adjoining SANAA building, while asserting its own distinct identity. The New Museum will be a synergistic pair working spatially and programmatically in tandem, offering a repertoire of spaces for the institution’s curatorial ambitions and diverse programs. We stacked the required programs exactly at the same level of the existing building—three floors of galleries, a permanent home for NEW INC, offices, and multifunctional education and event spaces—new and old conjoined. Ceiling heights of the newly connected galleries align on each floor, creating expanded space for exhibitions and horizontal flow between the buildings.

Galleries can be used singularly across the floorplate to host larger exhibitions or separately for diversity and curatorial freedom. Due to the horizontality of the site, the galleries in the new building increase in size on the upper levels while the galleries in the existing building decrease in size—the total area per connected floor remains balanced. A distinction between the two buildings is created by taking advantage of our site’s depth to insert an interstitial space, in between art and city, containing an Atrium Stair and dedicated gallery elevators for improved vertical circulation. This highly public face—starting from the exterior plaza and Atrium Stair to terraced multi-purpose rooms at the top—is a conduit of art and activities that provides an openness to engage the Bowery and the city.

The existing tower’s verticality treats the different programs within in the same expression. We wanted to create a healthy contrast by expanding the galleries horizontally and introducing two setbacks. An angled setback starting from the top of gallery stack to the street defines a new public plaza at the terminus of Prince Street that becomes a focal point and a buffer zone between existing and new. A second setback above the galleries makes the top of the building disappear, while opening up the upper-level terraces to the sky. Clad in laminated glass with a layer of metal mesh, the building appears monolithic during the day, establishing a unified exterior alongside the existing building’s metal mesh facade. In the evening, the transparency of the facade is enhanced as light permeates through its openings, exposing the museum’s anatomy.

Summary

Museum Extension

The extension contrasts the existing tower’s verticality by expanding the galleries horizontally and adding two setbacks. An angled setback from the top of the gallery stack to the street creates a new public plaza at the end of Prince Street, serving as both focal point and buffer between old and new. A second setback above the galleries makes the top of the building disappear and opens upper terraces to the sky. Clad in laminated glass with metal mesh, the building reads as monolithic by day and becomes more transparent at night as light reveals the museum’s interior.

The new, New Museum is a partnership of two different personalities with high compatibility—independent but in constant dialogue. The result is an expanded platform that provokes even more dynamic interactions between art, artists, and people, which are then exposed to communicate the museum’s civic ambitions to the city.