Art Museums + Galleries

Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

To improve operational efficiencies, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation relocated its offices to a new space. The project brings together nearly 200 employees representing a range of the Guggenheim’s administrative departments, creating a highly collaborative environment to support its work and mission.

Designed by Studio Gang Architects, the full-floor office arranges departmental adjacencies into “Super Blocks” along a central laneway and places a strong emphasis on natural light, acoustics, and symmetry. The project includes a combination of open and private offices, meeting rooms, an extensive materials library, model room, canteen and pantry. Additional features include a generator-connected IT data center, a high-density filing system for the institution’s art publication collection, an improved heating and cooling design, and precise attention to acoustical details for both mechanical as well as intra-office noise.

Studio Museum in Harlem

Studio Museum in Harlem

Founded in 1968 by a diverse group of artists, community activists, and philanthropists, The Studio Museum in Harlem is the premier center for contemporary artists of African descent, the principal visual art institution in Harlem, and a magnet for visitors from around the world. The first building created expressly for the institution’s program, this new home is designed to enable the Studio Museum to better serve a growing and diverse audience, provide additional educational opportunities for people of all ages, expand its program of world-renowned exhibitions, effectively display its singular collection, and strengthen its trailblazing Artist-in-Residence program. The new structure will consist of a lower level for presentations, with a welcome center, a cafe, and public amenities; a porous, welcoming presence at street level, with a light-filled core that soars up through the entire interior; a variety of gallery spaces on the second, third, and fourth floors, with an education center on the third and dedicated spaces for the Artist-in-Residence program on the fourth; staff offices on the fifth floor; and a roof terrace spanning the entire building.

Broadway Housing Communities

Broadway Housing Communities

Broadway Housing Communities (BHC) is a non-profit housing developer committed to providing housing for individuals and families in the greatest need. Their supportive housing model combines low-income housing with services designed to meet the needs of our tenants and enable them to live independently.

For their seventh project in New York City, BHC acquired an underutilized site on the northern boundary of Harlem’s Sugar Hill neighborhood and launched plans to transform the property into a green model of urban community revitalization. Designed by David Adjaye, the Sugar Hill mixed-use development provides 124 units of affordable housing, an early childhood center, and a new cultural institution, the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling. The new, ground-up facility also includes commercial parking and office space, serving as BHC’s new administrative headquarters.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Whitney Museum of American Art

Whitney Museum of American Art

As the preeminent institution devoted to the art of the United States, the Whitney Museum of American Art presents the full range of twentieth-century and contemporary American art, with a special focus on works by living artists. The Whitney is dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting American art, and its collection–arguably the finest holding of twentieth-century American art in the world–is the Museum’s key resource.

The Whitney embarked on a project to convert the top-floor of its iconic Breuer Building into the Museum’s permanent galleries, relocating its administrative offices from the main building into three interconnected brownstones. The program also included a new library facility and museum store, as well as upgrades to the mechanical, lighting and infrastructure systems.

Noguchi Museum

Noguchi Museum

In 1985, Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) founded and designed a new museum to display what he considered to be representative examples of his life’s work. After two decades of use, the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum embarked on a major renovation to expand their program space and update their facilities while preserving the original character of the building. The multi-phase project included a new education center, café and shop, as well as infrastructure and life safety upgrades. The renovation also involved the installation of a new HVAC system that allowed the museum to remain open year round.

Rubin Museum of Art

Rubin Museum of Art

The Rubin Museum of Art was conceived as a new institution by philanthropists Donald and Shelly Rubin. Dedicated to sharing the ideas, culture and art of the Himalayas, India and neighboring regions, the museum recently celebrated its ten year anniversary.

The Rubin Museum initiated a major adaptive re-use project to convert a Barney’s luxury department store into its new museum space. The project involved a full renovation of the building, integrating new mechanical, life safety and security systems. The design integrated some of the existing architectural features, including the restoration of a signature, Andrée Putman steel and marble central stair. The final program included museum-quality exhibit and photography galleries, a theater for multi-media events and performances, café and gift shop. The project involved securing approvals from the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals.

Sperone Westwater Gallery

Sperone Westwater Gallery

As one of New York City’s premiere art galleries, Sperone Westwater hosts exhibits from prominent international artists working in a variety of media. In 2008, Sperone Westwater sought to relocate and develop a trademark facility in the Lower East Side. Designed by Foster + Partners, the new, vertical building provides a new permanent home for the gallery. The project includes a 12 by 20-foot elevator that acts as a moving room, creating for a one-of-a-kind visitor experience. The facility also features a specialty glass façade and museum-quality finishes and exhibits.

Asia Society and Museum

Asia Society and Museum

Founded in 1956, the Asia Society is the leading educational organization dedicated to promoting a mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships between Asia and the United States in a global context.  Its New York building includes a museum with an exceptional collection of both traditional and contemporary Asian and Asian American art, as well as its organizational headquarters.

The Asia Society and Museum in New York embarked on a major renovation and expansion project.  The transformation of the building provided a significant enlargement of gallery spaces, a more efficient layout of the office floors, and expanded visitor service functions, including the museum shop and life safety systems.  The program also included a renovated 400-seat auditorium and a new, two-story garden court.

Clark Art Institute

Clark Art Institute

As the first phase to its $145 million campus transformation, the Clark Art Institute advanced a new conservation building called the Lunder Center at Stone Hill. Designed by world-renowned architect Tadao Ando, the project includes art preservation and conservation, educational spaces, two smaller exhibit galleries and a terrace café. Reflecting the Clark’s strong commitment to sustainability, the building has its own geothermal energy plant and is carefully integrated into the natural landscape. To maintain effective temperature control, the conservation spaces required the introduction of specialty HVAC systems. The Lunder Center at Stone Hill represents the first new building implemented at the Clark since 1973.

Clark Art Institute

Clark Art Institute

Dedicated to advancing and extending the public understanding of art, the Clark Art Institute is one of only a handful of institutions globally with a dual mission as both an art museum and a distinguished center for research and higher education. To meet the Institute’s growing demand for exhibition, academic programs, and visitor services, the Clark embarked on an ambitious, $145 million master plan to transform its campus. Designed by a renowned architecture team, the project aimed to create a more integrated physical environment, upgrade site circulation, and improve the overall visitor experience. Underscoring the Clark’s stewardship role for its 140-acre campus, the plan included the adoption of sustainability strategies to significantly reduce energy and water consumption despite an increase in program and overall built area.

The implementation of the master plan was divided into several core phases of work:

  • Phase I – Lunder Center at Stone Hill: Development of a new, 32,000 square foot conservation building with Museum gallery space, campus landscape integration
  • Phase II –Physical Plant and Clark Center: Development of a new 42,600 square foot visitor exhibition and conference center, as well as a new physical plant that integrates geothermal energy and other sustainable resources
  • Phase III – Museum Building and Manton Research Center: Renovation of original museum building and a 110,000 square foot existing research center and gallery space

New Museum

New Museum

The New Museum, one of New York’s premier contemporary art institutions, approached a major milestone: creating a new permanent home in an architecturally significant facility. As the first new art museum ever built from the ground up below 14th Street, the 60,000 square foot building in the Bowery featured plans for an iconic and technically challenging design by SANAA with open and light-filled gallery spaces, a theater, learning center, bookstore, café, event venue, and administrative offices. Intended as a new hub for contemporary art, the museum provides a welcoming environment for artists, students, residents, and travelers alike.