"Inspired by Alfred Barr's original vision to be an experimental museum in New York, the real value of this expansion is not just more space, but space that allows us to rethink the experience of art in the museum. We have an opportunity to re-energize and expand upon our founding mission to welcome everyone to experience MoMA as a laboratory for the study and presentation of the art of our time, across all visual arts," said Glenn D. Lowry, David Rockefeller Director of The Museum of Modern Art about the expansion of MoMA.

Since mid-June, New York City's Museum of Modern Art -one of the most influential museums of modern art in the world and the most-visited modern art museum in the country- has been closed to undergo the renovation and expansion. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) in collaboration with Gensler, the new MoMA is set to open its door to the public on October 21.

MoMA welcomes its visitors. Image © Elif Merve Unsal

View from 53rd Street. Image by Brett Beyer © DS+R

The multi-stage project, estimated to cost $450 million, includes an entire new wing and increasing the museum's gallery space by nearly 30 percent. The museum now has more than 40,000 square feet of additional gallery space, which will enable the museum "to exhibit significantly more art in new and interdisciplinary ways," according to a museum press release. By seeking to provide visitors with a more welcoming and comfortable experience with increased gallery space, the project better connects the museum to people and the urban fabric of Midtown Manhattan.

"This work has required the curiosity of an archeologist and the skill of a surgeon," said Elizabeth Diller. "The improvements will make the visitor experience more intuitive and will relieve congestion, while a new circulation network will knit together the expansion spaces with the lobbies, the theaters, and the sculpture garden to create a contiguous, free public realm that bridges street to street and art to city," she added.

Flagship Museum Store. Image by Brett Beyer © DS+R

"The design integrates the various facets of the museum's architectural history, creating a distinct clear-glass façade on 53rd Street that complements the existing Goodwin and Stone, Johnson, and Taniguchi buildings and invites a more open dialogue between interior and exterior spaces," she continued. 

The reconfigured lobby as double-height space allows the visitors to be visually connected with the street fabric. The lobby on the ground floor is equipped to host installations of art and open to all.

Interior view of The Museum of Modern Art, West Lobby Lounge and Eli & Edythe Broad Ticketing Platform. Image by Iwan Baan © MoMA

The blade stairwell marks the threshold between the new expansion inside the 53W53 building designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel and the existing wing. The stair is a vibrant urban sculpture, combining a monumental physical presence with intangible structural lightness.

Thanks to the redesigned circulation, the new western portion of the museum will be dedicated almost entirely to the display of art. The expansion to the west end of the site will feature a stack of vertically interlocking galleries of varying heights. It will include engaging new street-level galleries comprised of a dedicated projects room and a gallery for contemporary design, a new fully customized studio space for media, performance, and film, and a sixth-floor lounge with an outdoor terrace facing 53rd Street.

Exterior view of The Museum of Modern Art, Blade Stair Atrium, 53rd Street. Image by Iwan Baan © MoMA

Interior view of the stair. Image by Brett Beyer © DS+R

Interior view of The Museum of Modern Art, Blade Stair. Image by Iwan Baan © MoMA

The expansion allows MoMA to exhibit significantly more art in new and interdisciplinary ways. DS+R's design, developed in collaboration with Gensler, optimized the museum's existing spaces to be more flexible and technologically sophisticated.

"More than just a physical expansion, the new MoMA is a rethinking of how we share art with you. We have reinstalled the entire collection to share exhilaratingly broad views of the art of our time in a way that is always evolving," said Glenn D. Lowry, The David Rockefeller Director. The members of MoMA get exclusive access to see the transformation first. Member Previews have started on October 13 and MoMA will be open to the public on October 21. Plan your visit here and enjoy the 'New MoMA.'

Project Gallery. Image by Iwan Baan © DS+R

Interior View from the new wing. Image by Iwan Baan © DS+R

Interior View from the new wing. Image by Elif Merve Unsal

Top Image by Iwan Baan © DS+R

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