Architecture of New Museum

New York's New Contemporary Art Museum is Art In Itself

Feb 26, 2008 D. Yvette Wohn

The quality of art at the New Museum for contemporary art in New York can be debated, but not the design of its home.

If you are going to the New Museum for contemporary art in New York, it does not have to be for the art. Certainly, the art is interesting, but the beauty of the museum is not only in its exhibits. It is rather in the structure that houses the art – the architectural design of the building – and the environmental context of its location that make it unique.

Opened just a few months ago on the outskirts of the fashion-savvy Soho district, the silvery building stands out like a nickel amongst pennies on a street of old, fading brick buildings. The only other things that glitter on this section of Bowery are the aluminum sinks of kitchen suppliers whose wares spill out onto the sidewalk. Many homeless people live in the area; two doors down is the Bowery Mission, providing meals and shelters to the needy.

The New Museum was designed by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, founders of the Tokyo-based architectural firm Sanaa. They won a competition in 2003 to design the museum. The building looks like a crooked stack of boxes and is extremely modern, yet does not overwhelm its neighbors. It is sheathed in a finely knit aluminum mesh that is only noticeable from close up.

The exhibition space is minimal, with no columns or windows, helping one focus on the art itself. The navigation, however, is not the best, due to the staircases which are so narrow two people cannot stand side by side in them. Due to the inconvenience of the regular stairs, many people opt for the emergency exit stairs, which with their fluorescent lights, look like any other building stairwell.

The pencil staircases rather seem to be their own independent contemporary art exhibit. The configuration of the stairs gives one the sense of being in an Escher drawing, and they provide a visually pleasing element to the building. The windows cut out on the wall let in natural light and a view of run-down buildings, a stark contrast to the clean, white space of the museum interior.

A delightful experience at the New Museum, not to be missed, is the elevator. It looks like a huge freight elevator, but the inside is lined with neon green, accentuated with a hot pink LCD screen.

One of the better ways to enjoy the museum is perhaps when it hosts an event, such as Get Weird, a performance of experimental music that takes place every third Tuesday of the month. It also hosts many art seminars and film screenings; schedules and details are available on the museum web site.

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New Museum