New York’s New Museum has a new extension. Developed by Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)with executive architect Cooper Robertson, the expansion resolves the institution’s desire for increased capacity to host its growing public programme.< img width="1800" height="1536"alt="Structures."src="https://atlive-wp.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/9_New-Museum_Photos-by-Jason-ORear.jpg"/ > Photos Jason Keen, Jason O’Rear Following a years of advancement and two-year closure, the museum reopened to the general public at the end of March, 2026, showcasing in the process among the only examples of the combined work of 2 living Pritzker Prize-wining architects(Koolhaas with Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA).”It’s not just an extension, however an enhance, an equivalent,”revealed OMA co-founder Rem Koolhaas in a video address
, speaking of the response to SANAA’s initial style for the New Museum, unveiled in 2007. 
OMA’s 60,000 square foot addition sensitively adjoins its counterpart, aligning its stacked floorings with the very same heights as the initial offset boxes. Doing so enables continuous horizontal circulation in between the new and the old, with galleries and social areas spanning both, enhancing flexibility in how they can be configured or separated.
As Manhattan’s only devoted contemporary art museum, the New Museum has actually worked as a crucial platform for dialogue between art and the public because its starting in 1977. For its expansion, a new 74-seat forum has actually been introduced alongside the enlarged seventh-floor Sky Space, offering views throughout Lower Manhattan a la OMA’s Casa da Musica in Porto.
Like its predecessor, the new New Museum likewise incorporates a series of problems, forming balconies that visitors rise to through an atrium stair and 3 extra elevators. Deeper in the block and lower than the SANAA building, the growth remains distinct, with an oblique, steep recess at ground level and a deep obstacle above. While opposing the rectilinear volumes of the SANAA structure, the moving floor plan likewise guarantees that areas delight in natural light from above, with gallery spaces thoroughly controlled for lighting.
From the street-level entrance plaza– up through 3 floors of extensive galleries created to accommodate curatorial variety, and up to diversely functioning terraced areas– the building’s façade exposes the series of activities taking place within. Event, exchange and development, are all made visible through a layered exterior of laminated glass and metal mesh, which unifies with the museum’s existing white anodised aluminium cladding to develop a constant succession of surface areas and an openness of circulation.
Arriving at the intersection of Bower and Prince Street, OMA has expanded the book shop and dining establishment within the lobby, forming a closer and more inviting connection to the street. Upper floors have also now become home to the museum’s “cultural incubator”, NEW INC. and feature studios dedicated to artists-in-residence.
“The façade reveals the circulation and inner functions of the museum making noticeable the variety of activities occurring inside,” said partner-in-charge of OMA’s New york city office, Shohei Shigematsu. “During the night, the structure ends up being almost like a lantern exposing its inner life to the city.”
ARUP offered structural engineering and MEP style across the incorporated structure, supporting clarity in the circulation method through an intricate truss structure and a geometrically intricate central stair. Most importantly, the staircase was kept as a constant architectural aspect through an innovative fire-protection technique. By including concealed voids above the perforated ceiling to accommodate smoke and heat build-up, the style permits the stair to occupy and specify the complete height of the atrium at the structure’s core.
The first exhibit hosted within the extension is the returning, New Human beings: Memories of the Future, which will span throughout the entire brand-new growth, uniting more than 200 artists, writers, researchers, designers, and filmmakers. Alongside this, the museum will exist a series of major new commissions integrated throughout the building. This consists of a façade work by Tschabalala Self, as part of the ongoing Façade Sculpture Program, and a monumental textile-based sculpture by Klára Hosnedlová, commissioned for the museum’s brand-new atrium stair.
“Considering that our starting almost 50 years ago, the New Museum has been a home for the most innovative art of today and a sanctuary for the artists who make it,” said Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director of the New Museum. “Our brand-new 120,000 sq ft structure on the Bowery signifies our redoubled dedication to brand-new art and new ideas, and to the museum as an ever-evolving website for risk-taking, cooperation, and experimentation.”
Shohei Shigematsu, at OMA continued: “The New Museum is an incubator for new cultural point of views and production, and the growth intends to embody that mindset of openness. Thought of as a highly connected yet distinct counterpart to the existing museum’s verticality and strength, the new building will provide horizontally extensive galleries for curatorial range, open vertical blood circulation, and a variety of areas for event, exchange, and production. The structure is even more formed to develop an active public face– consisting of an outside plaza at the ground, minutes of openness throughout the main atrium, and terraced openings at the top– that will freely engage the surrounding community and beyond.”
“Marking our first public structure in New York City, the task with the New Museum is particularly significant– an organization whose forward-thinking principles we have long admired,” added Koolhaas. “Building on previous partnerships with Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, it has actually been an advantage to take part in discussion with their original building, one of the most resonant works of architecture in the city. The finished job stands as both an extension and an expansion of that tradition.”
Credits
Customer
New Museum
Designer
OMA
Executive architect
Cooper Robertson (now Corgan)
Task and cost management
Gardner and Theobald, PML
General professional
F.J. Sciame Construction Co., Inc
Structural engineer
Arup
Mechanical systems
Arup
Façade
Front
Geotechnical engineer
Langan
Civil engineer
Philip Habib & Associates
Wayfinding and signage
2 × 4, T-Squared Design Studio, Visual Graphic Systems
Lighting style
Dot Dash