Project Details
- Project Name
- Studio Museum in Harlem
- Architect
- Adjaye Associates
- Client/Owner
- The Studio Museum in Harlem
- Project Types
- Cultural
- Project Scope
- New Construction
- Size
- 71,000 sq. feet
- Shared by
- Selin Ashaboglu
- Team
-
Executive Architect: Cooper, Robertson & Partners
Construction Management: Sciame
Subcontractor: McKissack & McKissack
- Project Status
- Concept Proposal
- Cost
- $122,000,000
Project Description
FROM THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM (July 6, 2015):
The Studio Museum in Harlem today announced that it will construct a new home
on Manhattan’s West 125th Street, replacing its current facility with a
structure designed expressly for its program by Adjaye Associates. Undertaken
as a public-private initiative with support from the City of New York, the five-story,
71,000-square-foot project will provide the custom-built and expanded
facilities, enriched visitor experience and strong architectural presence
appropriate to a 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 new building will enable the Studio Museum to better
serve its growing and diverse audiences, provide additional educational
opportunities to museumgoers from toddlers to seniors, expand its
world-renowned exhibitions of art by artists of African descent and influenced
and inspired by black culture, and effectively display its singular collection
of artwork from the nineteenth century to the present day.
With construction expected
to be in progress by 2017, the project will add to the celebration of the 50th
anniversary of the Studio Museum, which opened in 1968 in a rented loft at
Fifth Avenue and 125th Street and has been operating since 1982 in a century-old
commercial building renovated for it by the celebrated African-American
architect J. Max Bond, Jr.
Thelma Golden, Director and
Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, stated, “The world of the arts
and Harlem have both changed dramatically over the half century since our
institution was founded, and we’re proud that the Studio Museum has been a
catalyst in those developments. Now, as a standard-bearer for contemporary
artists of African descent, we’re poised to begin a new era. With the help of
the brilliant David Adjaye, who is giving us the first facility designed
expressly for our needs, we will foster the next generation of artists. We will
bring the creative achievements of our artists, past and present, to audiences
from near and far. And, more than ever, we will heighten the special vibrancy
that is synonymous with Harlem.”
An increase in space of more
than 50 percent for the galleries and the acclaimed Artist-in-Residence program
will enrich visitor experience at the Studio Museum and enable the institution
to greatly expand its schedule of exhibitions while presenting ongoing
installations of works from its important and rapidly growing permanent
collection, now containing nearly 2000 objects. Indoor public space will
increase by almost 60 percent, with spaces for educational activities and public
programs doubled in capacity and integrated seamlessly with the rest of the
building, enhancing the Studio Museum’s role as a gathering place for Harlem
residents, the wider New York community and the international art world.
The Museum intends to file
plans for the building's conceptual design with the Public Design Commission of
the City of New York (PDC) on July 14, for review by a PDC subcommittee.
Following completion of schematic design, the Museum will file plans for PDC preliminary
approval.
Taking its architectural
cues from the brownstones, churches and bustling sidewalks of Harlem, Adjaye
Associates’ conceptual design envisions a dynamic, sculptural facade that contrasts
strongly with the surrounding commercial buildings, while being transparent and
porous from street level. Designed to function as an exhibition gallery, an
archive, a workplace for artists in residence and a “living room” for the
Harlem community and its visitors, the new building features a light-filled
core that soars upward for four stories; an “inverted stoop” that invites the
public into a lively multi-use space for lectures, performances, informal
gatherings and more; a terrace overlooking 125th Street; and a variety of
graciously proportioned spaces for installing artworks, including pieces that
will be visible from outside the building as beacons for the museum.
Joining
Together to Build the New Studio Museum
Raymond J. McGuire, Chairman
of the Board of Trustees, stated, “But for The Studio Museum in Harlem,
hundreds of artists of African descent would not have the international acclaim
that they do today, and generations of audiences would not have an enlightened
and integrative view of the power of art and artists. A beautifully designed,
purpose-built home for the Studio Museum will enliven the ongoing developments
on 125th Street while firmly anchoring them in the artistic and cultural
traditions of Harlem. We are grateful to our many donors, including Mayor Bill
de Blasio, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Manhattan Borough President
Gayle Brewer and the City of New York for recognizing the magnitude of what the
Studio Museum has already accomplished and for generously supporting this next
stage in our development, which promises to be of the highest importance both
to global culture and to the civic fabric of New York.”
The Studio Museum
inaugurated its building project after the Board of Trustees decided that the
institution ought to remain at its current site, which offers unmatched
prominence in Harlem, but needed a radical reinvention of its existing space to
realize the museum’s potential. In January 2014, the Board completed an
international search by unanimously selecting Adjaye Associates to design a new
museum building, with Cooper Robertson as executive architects and program
planning consultants.
Estimated at $122 million,
including hard and soft construction costs and a reserve fund, the project will
span two adjacent lots on West 125th Street, including the one occupied by the
museum’s existing main building. To date, the Mayor’s Office, the City Council,
and the Office of the Manhattan Borough President have appropriated some $35.3 million
to the project, including the recently announced allocation for Fiscal Year
2016.
Tom Finkelpearl,
Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs, stated, “For half a
century, The Studio Museum in Harlem has proved that there is no contradiction
between being a world-class art institution and a community-based cultural
organization. The Studio Museum has succeeded in both roles, to the benefit of
everyone from schoolchildren in Harlem to some of today’s most internationally
renowned artists. This project, which will dramatically advance the Studio
Museum in its work, is an opportunity that the City of New York has
wholeheartedly embraced, as a leading example of how we want great art to be a
part of the life of every community.”
“I am so honored to be
working on The Studio Museum in Harlem,” David Adjaye stated. “This project is
about pushing the museum typology to a new place and thinking about the display
and reception of art in innovative ways. It is also about a powerful urban
resonance—drawing on the architectural tropes of Harlem and celebrating the
history and culture of this extraordinary neighborhood with a building that
will be a beacon for a growing local, national and international audience.”
A
Design to Serve Harlem’s Spirit and the Studio Museum’s Vision
The conceptual design to be presented
for review by the Public Design Commission of the City of New York draws on and
transforms characteristic aspects of Harlem’s architecture, including its
brownstones and churches. The masonry-framed windows of the neighborhood’s apartment
buildings have inspired a rhythmic facade composed of windows of varying sizes
and proportions. Inside the museum, the radiant, soaring volumes of church
sanctuaries will find an equivalent in a toplit central hall, with ample wall area
to install large-scale works of art. A switchback stair rising through four
floors will create multiple look-out points from the landings. Throughout the
building, visitors will have ample opportunities to contemplate both the museum
interior and the vibrant streetscape outside, creating an experience anchored
firmly in the history and community of the Harlem neighborhood.
To add to the building’s
street presence and emphasize the museum’s function as a gathering place,
Adjaye has conceived a 199-seat “inverted stoop”: a set of descending steps
that begins at the sidewalk and leads down to the lower level, which can be
used as a stage for lectures, screenings and performances. Thanks to the
transparency of the building at sidewalk level, people on 125th Street will feel
drawn into the liveliness of this unprecedented gathering place and be able to
join it at will, since the Studio Museum anticipates that the entrance and
lower levels will be accessible free of charge during normal museum hours.
The conceptual design proposes
galleries sensitively configured in varying proportions and scales to
accommodate the wide variety of works in the permanent collection and many
sizes and types of temporary exhibitions. Studios for the artists in residence,
staff offices and education spaces will be thoughtfully designed and fully-equipped
for maximum efficiency, flexibility, accessibility and comfort.
Adjaye Associates will work
in conjunction with Cooper Robertson, the project’s executive architect and
project planning consultants. Founded by Alexander Cooper, FAIA in 1979, Cooper
Robertson is a 50-person, New York City-based firm committed to
interdisciplinary, sustainable and site-sensitive design. Cooper Robertson has extensive
experience building major cultural and educational buildings, including the new
Whitney Museum of American Art (in collaboration with Renzo Piano Building
Workshop), and the Harlem Village Academies High School. Cooper Robertson’s
significant New York City experience combined with Adjaye Associates’
international sensibility truly reflects the Museum’s local commitment and
global reach.
Construction management for
the project will be undertaken by Sciame, a firm widely recognized throughout
the New York area for its expertise in technically sophisticated and
artistically designed projects. McKissack & McKissack, the oldest
minority-owned architecture and engineering firm in the United States, will
partner with Sciame as its subcontractor. To give active expression to the
Studio Museum’s values and make tangible the commitment of the Board of
Trustees to the community of Harlem, McKissack & McKissack has been charged
with developing and implementing a program to ensure that the project meets or
exceeds the goals set by the Studio Museum for workforce diversity and
meaningful participation by qualified minority-owned, woman-owned and locally
based businesses.