OMA Completes New Museum Expansion in New York, Highly Connected

This blog post analyzes OMA’s expansion of the New Museum in Manhattan. The ground-up annex doubles the institution’s footprint to roughly 120,000 square feet.

It sits beside SANAA’s 2007 building as a “twin” but remains formally distinct. The new building features a pentagonal volume, a glass-and-mesh facade, and a social staircase that connects street life to gallery spaces.

A Twin Expansion that Reframes the New Museum

The extension does not imitate the original building. Instead, it asserts a bold presence with a steep recess at street level and a deep setback that meets the SANAA facade at a central kiss point.

The design creates dialogue with its neighbor while establishing a strong, independent identity. This approach broadens the museum’s program and urban presence.

Architectural Form and Facade

OMA designed a pentagonal-section structure that connects to the street with a dramatic recess. The building fans toward a central apex where it visually “kisses” SANAA’s existing tower.

The exterior features a faceted skin clad in laminated glass and metal mesh. This is a contemporary nod to SANAA’s aluminum mesh but remains unique.

Vertical stripes, balconies, and increased transparency modulate light and perception from the street and inside the galleries. The building’s form balances monumentality and openness, inviting passersby to engage with the museum.

Inside, circulation blurs boundaries between the two buildings. A winding staircase in an atrium sits between galleries and the facade, acting as a visible social connector.

The fourth level has a columnless auditorium facing a glass-filled void with views toward the Bowery. The first three floors are dedicated to gallery spaces with high ceilings and white walls.

Spatial Strategy and Public Life

The interior program emphasizes transparency and encounter. A dramatic atrium, seamless exterior connections, and city views create a continuous dialogue between the museum and its urban context.

Circulation routes become public experiences, encouraging spontaneous interactions among visitors, artists, and the neighborhood. The design elevates movement through the building as a key part of the visitor experience.

Ground Floor, Public Realm, and Material Palette

The ground-floor strategy expands unticketed public zones from both buildings. The street extends into the museum’s interior, inviting passersby to engage with the atrium and galleries.

The main entrance is widened, leading to a broad promenade that crosses the site. A concealed restaurant, clad in cork and silver-leafed expanded cork panels, adds a hospitality layer beside the gallery program.

Ticketing operations were moved to stairwells to keep the main floor open for free movement and social interaction. This preserves energy and flexibility on the ground plane.

• Ground-floor lobby integrates unticketed spaces from both buildings and an extended street-scale entry.
• Concealed restaurant materiality: cork cladding with silver-leafed expanded cork panels.
• Industrial interior palette: exposed I-beams, polished meshed floors, and green-painted mesh surfaces providing a tactile, layered aesthetic.
• Public integration: a continuous, clear circulation logic that invites street life into the museum environment.

Above the galleries, incubator spaces and offices form what OMA calls the building’s brain. This area supports the museum as a dynamic platform for contemporary art and discourse.

Project Team and Realization

The project leadership included Shohei Shigematsu as partner in charge, with Rem Koolhaas in collaboration.

Structural and mechanical engineering were handled by Arup.

Cooper Robertson (now Corgan) served as architect of record.

The team combined design, engineering, and construction expertise to create an adaptable museum extension that engages the street and expands the New Museum’s international presence.

 
Here is the source article for this story: OMA completes “highly connected, but highly individual” expansion of New York’s New Museum