For decades, The Studio Museum in Harlem has nurtured up-and-coming artists of African descent and brought them to prominence. Museum director and chief curator Thelma Golden told The New York Times that the museum has “outgrown the space” it currently occupies.
“Our program and our audience require us to answer those demands,” she adds. Hence, the museum has commissioned British-Tanzanian architect David Adjaye to design its new home, slated to begin construction in 2017 for a 2019 completion.
The museum intends to file plans for the building’s conceptual design with the Public Design Commission of the City of New York on July 14.
A press release from The Studio Museum describes Adjaye’s design as “the first home designed expressly for [the museum’s] program.” The public-private initiative, supported by the city of New York, will build the museum, a five-story, 71,000-sf building, on Manhattan’s West 125th Street.
The new scheme takes cues from the brownstones, churches, and bustling sidewalk of Harlem. A public lobby not only will bring grandeur that the museum’s current building can’t offer, but it will also act as a “living room” for the Harlem community and its visitors, thanks to a light-filled core that soars four stories.
Adjaye was selected out of several other architects because of “his sensitivity to artists as well as to the neighborhood,” Golden told the New York Times.
“For generations, artists living and working in Harlem have had an enormous impact on the character and sensibilities of this country. And for the last 50 years The Studio Museum in Harlem has been a pillar for this community, studying, promoting, supporting, and contributing to the cultural fabric of this extraordinary neighborhood and amplifying voices of artists of African descent for an international audience,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “The City’s investment in the future of this organization signals our commitment to helping the Studio Museum grow, engaging a wide audience and maintaining New York’s position at the center of American spirit and identity."
Related Stories
Museums | Feb 22, 2023
David Chipperfield's 'subterranean' design wins competition for National Archaeological Museum in Athens
Berlin-based David Chipperfield Architects was selected as the winner of the design competition for the new National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The project will modernize and expand the original neoclassical museum designed by Ludwig Lange and Ernst Ziller (1866-1874) with new spaces that follow the existing topography of the site. It will add approximately 20,000 sm of space to the existing museum, as well as a rooftop park that will be open to the public.
Museums | Feb 17, 2023
First Americans Museum uses design metaphors of natural elements to honor native worldview
First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City honors the 39 tribes in Oklahoma today, reflecting their history through design metaphors of nature’s elements of earth, wind, water, and fire. The design concept includes multiple circles suggested by arcs, reflecting the native tradition of a circular worldview that encompasses the cycle of life, the seasons, and the rotation of the earth.
Museums | Feb 12, 2023
A new museum will be a central piece within the University of Notre Dame's expanding arts district
Next November, the University of Notre Dame in Indiana is scheduled to open the first phase of Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, a 70,000-sf cultural facility that will eventually replace the campus’ venerable Snite Museum of Art and double the exhibit space available for Notre Dame’s 31,000-item art collection.
Giants 400 | Feb 9, 2023
New Giants 400 download: Get the complete at-a-glance 2022 Giants 400 rankings in Excel
See how your architecture, engineering, or construction firm stacks up against the nation's AEC Giants. For more than 45 years, the editors of Building Design+Construction have surveyed the largest AEC firms in the U.S./Canada to create the annual Giants 400 report. This year, a record 519 firms participated in the Giants 400 report. The final report includes 137 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Giants 400 | Feb 6, 2023
2022 Reconstruction Sector Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. building reconstruction and renovation sector
Gensler, Stantec, IPS, Alfa Tech, STO Building Group, and Turner Construction top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest reconstruction sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Steel Buildings | Feb 3, 2023
Top 10 structural steel building projects for 2023
A Mies van der Rohe-designed art and architecture school at Indiana University and Morphosis Architects' Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa, Calif., are among 10 projects to win IDEAS² Awards from the American Institute of Steel Construction.
Giants 400 | Feb 1, 2023
2022 Cultural Facilities Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. cultural facilities sector
Populous, DLR Group, KPFF, Arup, and Turner Construction head BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2022 Giants 400 Report. Building types include museums, public libraries, performing arts centers, and concert venues.
Museums | Jan 18, 2023
Building memory: Why interpretive centers matter in an era of social change
The last few years have borne witness to some of the most rapid cultural shifts in our nation’s long history. If the experience has taught us anything, it is that we must find a way to keep our history in view, while also putting it in perspective.
Museums | Oct 25, 2022
Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion emphasizes human connection to oceans
Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion, currently under construction, features several exhibits that examine the human connection with the Earth’s oceans.
| Sep 1, 2022
The University of Iowa opens the new Stanley Museum of Art, a public museum for both discovering and teaching art
The University of Iowa recently completed its new Stanley Museum of Art, a public teaching museum designed by BNIM.
