New building for new museum - Artworld - New Museum of Contemporary Art

Art in America, Jan, 2004 by Stephanie Cash

The New Museum of Contemporary Art in Manhattan recently unveiled plans for its first commissioned facility, designed by Kazuyo Sijima and Ryue Nishlzawa of the Tokyo firm SANAA. Currently located on three levels of a tall loft building on Broadway in SoHo, the 26-year-old museum is moving only about six blocks to the east. Its new home will be on a 72-foot-wide site on the Bowery, the former Skid Row now better known for its restaurant supply stores.

The team's design calls for a 60,000-square-foot, seven-story structure that resembles an asymmetrical stack of variously sized rectangular boxes, somewhat similar in appearance to Zaha Hadid's new Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. The silvery, zinc-plated steel facade is nearly windowless, initially presenting a rather uninviting appearance. However, each floor is shifted off the central axis in a different direction, creating skylights at the building's edges that will allow daylight to filter down and, at night, permit interior illumination to play off the building's reflective surfaces. The interior spaces will be more open and flowing than in the museum's current location. Galleries totaling 14,000 square feet will be located on the third, fourth and fifth floors, doubling the museum's current exhibition space. The top two floors will accommodate educational facilities as well as a multipurpose public area with wraparound terraces. Staff offices will be on the second floor, and a bookstore, cafe and small exhibition space on the ground floor. Two below-ground levels will contain an auditorium, a media lounge, a small bar and storage.

The museum has raised $23 million for the $35-million project, which includes construction of the new building, doubling the endowment from $4 million to $8 million, and other costs related to the museum's growth. Funds raised so far include private donations and proceeds from the sale of its Broadway space. Groundbreaking is scheduled for October, with an anticipated completion date in spring 2006.