The Whitney Museum of American Art told Community Board 2 in Greenwich Village last night that it plans to break ground May 24, 2011 for its new building set to rise next to the High Line in the Meatpacking District, according to an article by Pete Davies today at ny.curbed.com.
Museum director Adam D. Weinberg showed renderings of the plans by Renzo Piano that indicated that the new building's lobby will "be fronted by glass on three sides, with uninterrupted views from Washington Street all the way to Weehawken and points westward," the article said.
"Above the streets, the north and south exteriors will be clad in some unspecified non-reflective metal recalling the industrial history of the area. To give it a modern edge, Piano has covered the east and west exposures in expanses of glass opening onto galleries covering the upper four floors," the article said.
"A theater with convertible seating is tucked into the second floor, where performers will be backed by vistas towards the river. The third-floor gallery, the largest of the bunch, will house temporary exhibits. The fourth and fifth floors will show off the Whitney's considerable contemporary collection (18,000+ pieces)," the article continued, "and up on the sixth floor, skylights will bring light into some special gallery spaces....Rising above the High Line and overlooking the low buildings of the Meatpacking District, the museum's east side will have tiers of terraces with ample space for outdoor exhibits."
"The full height of Piano's plan, 166 feet at the tallest point, rises over West Street," the article said, "with big windows and inset balconies sporting killer views....In a bit of surprise, the museum will not connect to the High Line, due to security and pedestrian flow concerns."
"To help alleviate the financial and administrative burden of maintaining both the Breuer building and the Meatpacking District site, the Whitney is negotiating a deal with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met would make use of the Breuer building as a temporary exhibition space for its modern and contemporary holdings while the Met renovates those galleries at its own home, according to Mr. Weinberg and previous reports," according to an article by Erica Orden in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal.
"Though the institution's new Renzo Piano-designed home will abut the southernmost entrance to the High Line," the article continued, "the Whitney and the management of the elevated parkland have decided against connecting the two structures, Mr. Weinberg said. He cited security concerns, as well as an interest in directing the flow of traffic so as to discourage visitors from entering midway through the exhibition space. The building is expected to open in 2015."
The downtown building, shown in a rendering at the right, will include more than 50,000 square feet of indoor galleries and 13,000 square feet of rooftop exhibition space, providing long-awaited opportunities to show more of the Whitney's unsurpassed collection of 20th- and 21st-century American art in tandem with cutting-edge temporary exhibitions. (The galleries in the Whitney's Madison Avenue building, designed by Marcel Breuer, total 32,000 square feet. The collection has grown from about 2,000 works at the time of the building's opening, in 1966, to more than 18,000 works.)
The expansive third-floor special exhibition gallery will be approximately 18,000 square feet, making it the largest column-free museum gallery in New York City. Gallery space for ground-floor exhibitions (accessible free of charge), the permanent collection on the fourth and fifth floors, and for long-term projects on the top floor, will total approximately 32,000 square feet.
An article today at therealdeal.com by Yaffi Spodek said that the new Whitney building will be the city's first LEED-certified art museum, "at minimum silver, but we hope gold," according to Mr. Weinberg.
Museum director Adam D. Weinberg showed renderings of the plans by Renzo Piano that indicated that the new building's lobby will "be fronted by glass on three sides, with uninterrupted views from Washington Street all the way to Weehawken and points westward," the article said.
"Above the streets, the north and south exteriors will be clad in some unspecified non-reflective metal recalling the industrial history of the area. To give it a modern edge, Piano has covered the east and west exposures in expanses of glass opening onto galleries covering the upper four floors," the article said.
"A theater with convertible seating is tucked into the second floor, where performers will be backed by vistas towards the river. The third-floor gallery, the largest of the bunch, will house temporary exhibits. The fourth and fifth floors will show off the Whitney's considerable contemporary collection (18,000+ pieces)," the article continued, "and up on the sixth floor, skylights will bring light into some special gallery spaces....Rising above the High Line and overlooking the low buildings of the Meatpacking District, the museum's east side will have tiers of terraces with ample space for outdoor exhibits."
"The full height of Piano's plan, 166 feet at the tallest point, rises over West Street," the article said, "with big windows and inset balconies sporting killer views....In a bit of surprise, the museum will not connect to the High Line, due to security and pedestrian flow concerns."
"To help alleviate the financial and administrative burden of maintaining both the Breuer building and the Meatpacking District site, the Whitney is negotiating a deal with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met would make use of the Breuer building as a temporary exhibition space for its modern and contemporary holdings while the Met renovates those galleries at its own home, according to Mr. Weinberg and previous reports," according to an article by Erica Orden in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal.
"Though the institution's new Renzo Piano-designed home will abut the southernmost entrance to the High Line," the article continued, "the Whitney and the management of the elevated parkland have decided against connecting the two structures, Mr. Weinberg said. He cited security concerns, as well as an interest in directing the flow of traffic so as to discourage visitors from entering midway through the exhibition space. The building is expected to open in 2015."
The downtown building, shown in a rendering at the right, will include more than 50,000 square feet of indoor galleries and 13,000 square feet of rooftop exhibition space, providing long-awaited opportunities to show more of the Whitney's unsurpassed collection of 20th- and 21st-century American art in tandem with cutting-edge temporary exhibitions. (The galleries in the Whitney's Madison Avenue building, designed by Marcel Breuer, total 32,000 square feet. The collection has grown from about 2,000 works at the time of the building's opening, in 1966, to more than 18,000 works.)
The expansive third-floor special exhibition gallery will be approximately 18,000 square feet, making it the largest column-free museum gallery in New York City. Gallery space for ground-floor exhibitions (accessible free of charge), the permanent collection on the fourth and fifth floors, and for long-term projects on the top floor, will total approximately 32,000 square feet.
An article today at therealdeal.com by Yaffi Spodek said that the new Whitney building will be the city's first LEED-certified art museum, "at minimum silver, but we hope gold," according to Mr. Weinberg.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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