34 DIGS.NET
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2.21.2020
P R O F I L E | M U S E U M S T O V I S I T N O W
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COURTESY
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BRETT
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IWAN
BAAN
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Art and architecture—the latest
incarnation of MoMA exhibits another
cultural hit for New York City architects
Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
W
ith a portfolio stacked with headliners like arts center The
Shed, Diller Scofidio + Renfro is the de facto architectural
firm for the cultural and colossal, a reputation affirmed by its
multi-year expansion of MoMA, completed in collaboration with Gensler.
Mandating a surgically precise rethink, the project's aims—to
increase gallery space, offer visitors a more welcoming experience,
and foster interaction between MoMA and urban midtown Manhattan—
demanded a solution as substantial as the museum's standing in
the art world. Having become too tight over time, DS+R radically
reorganized the space, expanding it for circulation, new galleries and
areas to accommodate a vast amount of visitors.
Among the new and striking is MoMA's transformative double-height
entrance, which sets a tone of openness and opacity throughout.
Borrowing space from a new residential tower allowed the architects
to let out what was a corseted ground floor, opening it in part by the
decision to drop the museum store to the basement. In the space
that displaced the neighboring Folk Art Museum now is a lounge, a
generous flexible performance space, and a gallery. Although one
should not expect affect or theatrics—new cafes and lobbies boasting
bars in black marble are as audacious as it gets—the modern steel
stairway is suspended from the roof with great drama.
With structural changes that produced fluidity and wide swaths of
breathable, thoughtfully distributed space, the clean-lined museum is
all the more dignified for its restraint. Finally, a palette of white walls
and pale wood combined with glass walls ensure one will always enjoy
the view. moma.org
The Museum of Modern Art
