OMA New York has been selected to design an extension of New Museum, designed by Japanese architecture firm SANAA in 2007. The design of new expansion will double the Museum’s footprint on the Bowery, providing an additional 50,000 square feet (4,645 square meters) for additional galleries, improved public circulation, and flexible space for the institution’s continued exploration of new platforms and programs.  

The design of the new building, taking place as adjacent property at 231 Bowery, will be led by Rem Koolhaas and OMA New York partner Shohei Shigematsu. The New Museum purchased the property in 2008 and the expansion plan was first announced in May 2016. 

Announced by Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director, and Massimiliano Gioni, Edlis Neeson Artistic Director - The New Museum Board of Trustees, the new structure will complement and respect the integrity of the Museum’s flagship SANAA building as a singular, critically acclaimed work of architecture.

Interior of New Museum. Image © Dean Kaufman

"I am honored to be awarded this project in the city perhaps most central to OMA’s philosophy, and am thrilled to work with an institution that deeply values the practices of creative forward-thinkers. As a Japanese architect, I am very happy to engage in a unique dialogue with SANAA and build alongside one of their seminal works," said Shohei Shigematsu, OMA New York, partner.

Funded by an $85 million capital campaign, the New Museum’s expansion builds upon extraordinary institutional momentum achieved over the past decade. The only museum in New York City devoted exclusively to contemporary art and a leading international cultural destination with 400,000 visitors annually, the New Museum is respected around the world for the groundbreaking and adventurous scope of its curatorial program and exhibitions. 

The Museum has also expanded its scholarly initiatives and blazed new trails with innovative platforms like IdeasCity, NEW INC, and Rhizome—programs devoted to collaborative and cross-disciplinary experimentation between art, urbanism, and technology. This next phase of expansion will provide greater space for these activities and a closer integration with the Museum’s renowned exhibition program.

Image © Benoit Pailley

"Building upon four decades of fostering new art and new ideas, the Board embraces this next chapter in the Museum’s history, which will provide artists and curators the space to experiment and grow in new ways," said James Keith Brown, President, New Museum Board of Trustees.

"I’m particularly excited that our first public building in New York City will be for the New Museum, one of the most forward-thinking institutions for which I’ve always had a great affinity," said Rem Koolhaas. 

"Having collaborated with Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa on a number of projects in Europe, it is a real honor to stand alongside their great work of architecture, one of my favorites in the city."

The New Museum is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to contemporary art. Founded in 1977, the New Museum is a center for exhibitions, information, and documentation about living artists from around the world. From its beginnings as a one-room office on Hudson Street to the inauguration of its first freestanding building on the Bowery designed by SANAA in 2007, the New Museum continues to be a place of experimentation and a hub of new art and new ideas.

Concept images by OMA have not yet been revealed but the project is expected to break ground in 2019.

Top image © Dean Kaufman

> via OMA/New Museum