MoMA Makeover
Jean Nouvel tweaks the museum's identity with an avant-garde
new mixed-use tower
 Ateliers Jean Nouvel |
The Museum of Modern Art’s devotion to rational planning, the grid, and the white box is nearly as synonymous with the Manhattan museum’s institutional identity as the Demoiselles d’Avignon. Jean Nouvel is about to change all that with a bold 75-story tower, partially devoted to museum galleries, that is reminiscent of both the Hearst Tower and fractured geometries of the work of Daniel Libeskind. While rumors of Nouvel’s involvement have been circulating for some time, the design unveiled on November 15 surprised many, both in its scale, set in a compact midblock site, and in the dynamism of its design.
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The tower, which is being developed by Hines, has an exposed exoskeleton, somewhat like Hearst, though with an irregular system of cross bracing that contorts in response to the L-shaped site. The asymmetrical tower tapers at the top in deference to zoning setbacks, angling skyward more steeply on the 53rd Street side than on 54th. It will adjoin the museum, adding three new floors of gallery space, and will also include approximately 120 high-end condominiums and a 120-room hotel. Construction is slated to begin in 2009.
The museum acquired the land and sold it in 2004 to Hines for $125 million (AN 02_02.01.2007, “MoMA Sells Plot, Gets a Lot”), which, combined with the price of building the galleries, creates significant up-front costs for Hines. As part of the sale, MoMA retained ownership of a few floors of the future development. According to David Penick, vice president of development for Hines, the developer prepared a list of five architects, which MoMA approved, and then decided on Nouvel because of his successful design for 40 Mercer Street. Penick declined to specify how it acquired the air rights, saying only that they “came from neighboring buildings.”
While the building’s asymmetrical form is a departure for MoMA, don’t expect that to be particularly noticeable in the new galleries. Penick points out that the MoMA complex, recently expanded to mixed reception by Yoshio Taniguchi, is comprised of galleries carved out of several different buildings. “The experience is rather seamless, so you don’t know exactly when you have gone from one building to the next,” he said. “They were comfortable maintaining that approach.”
Tod Williams, whose American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) sits at the base of the site, praises the design and the selection of Nouvel. “Billie and I are in favor of taking risks,” he said, in reference to his wife and partner Billie Tsien. “Nouvel is always interesting, so we’re excited to have him as a neighbor.” Still, Williams thinks the tower will be very difficult to build given the hemmed-in nature of the site, which wraps around AFAM. “There is no staging area for construction,” he said.
In a statement, MoMA director Glen D. Lowry praised Nouvel’s design as a “significant architectural addition to New York” that will “enhance the character of the block.” It will also add a faceted and fascinating peak to the skyline, and stand as a rebuke to critics who accuse the museum of architectural timidity.
ALAN G. BRAKE