Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

American Folk Art Museum, New York, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

White bronze panels, cast in an art foundry, make up the Folk Art Museum's façade.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

The Folk Art Museum's 85-foot façade, designed specifically to make ' a quiet statement of independence' from MoMA, which surrounds it on three sides, may have led to its undoing, if MoMA director Glenn D. Lowry is to be believed.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

Pieces from the collection were built into the structure of the museum.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

Visitors could choose different paths to experience the artworks displayed within the museum, which packed eight levels into a four-story structure on West 53rd Street; two levels, which included an auditorium and museum offices, were below grade.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

"The American Folk Art Museum is an idiosyncratic home for idiosyncratic art."—Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, from twbta.com.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

The collection of the American Folk Art Museum includes international folk art by self-taught artists to cultivate aesthetic appreciation of the genre.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

Built-in niches displayed artifacts from the museum's permanent collection, framing pieces in unexpected locations throughout the building.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

Upper floors contained permanent and temporary exhibitions, while lower floors contained administrative spaces.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

Breaking up the museum floors into multiple levels allowed for a variety of exhibition spaces.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

Openings between floors allow light to pass from the upper level skylights to the galleries below.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

Ciruclation paths and space use fill the American Folk Art Museum's former home with complexity despite its diminutive stature in the context of New York.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

Skylights provide daylighting to the gallery spaces.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

A narrow stairway provides another circulation route through the building.

Esto Gallery: The American Folk Art Museum, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, photographed by Peter Mauss

"Sculptural in form, the façade recalls an abstracted open hand. The panels fold inward to create a faceted plan. The façade catches the glow of the rising and setting sun, sublty shifrting with the weather and the seasosn."—Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, from twbta.com.

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