The Studio Museum in Harlem
Adjaye Associates · Harlem · 2025
Construction is nearing completion at the new 82,000 square foot home for The Studio Museum in Harlem on 125th Street. The museum, which has existed in a previous structure on the site since 1979, is dedicated to artists of African descent. Designed by Adjaye Associates with Cooper Robertson, the massing of the museum’s new 5-story structure features a stack of one and two-story volumes with large apertures that allow the public to glimpse the activity within. The exterior of the museum is clad in dark grey precast concrete and glass panels, which are now fully installed. Along with column free galleries, the building will also include an education center, theater, a studio for artists in residence, a cafe, and a rooftop terrace by Studio Zewde.
Northwest corner from West 125th Street.
South facade.
Architects: Adjaye Associates (Design Architect), Cooper Robertson (Architect of Record); Construction Manager: Sciame Construction with McKissack & McKissack; Client: The Studio Museum in Harlem; Program: Museum; Location: Harlem, New York, NY; Completion: Fall 2025.
Construction Update: The Studio Museum in Harlem
Installation of the concrete panels is complete at the north facade of the new 82,000 square foot home for The Studio Museum in Harlem. Designed by Adjaye Associates, the massing of the museum features a stack of one and two-story volumes with large apertures that allow the public to glimpse the activity within.
Northwest corner from West 125th Street.
Architects: Adjaye Associates (Design Architect), Cooper Robertson (Architect of Record); Construction Manager: Sciame Construction with McKissack & McKissack; Client: The Studio Museum in Harlem; Program: Museum; Location: Harlem, New York, NY; Completion: 2024.
Construction Update: The Studio Museum in Harlem
North facade from West 125th Street.
Steel superstructure has topped out and exterior wall installation is underway at the new 82,000 square foot home for The Studio Museum in Harlem. Designed by Adjaye Associates, the massing of the museum features a stack of one and two-story volumes with large apertures that allow the public to glimpse the activity within.
Northwest corner from West 125th Street.
South facade from West 125th Street.
South facade from West 125th Street.
Architects: Adjaye Associates (Design Architect), Cooper Robertson (Architect of Record); Construction Manager: Sciame Construction with McKissack & McKissack; Client: The Studio Museum in Harlem; Program: Museum; Location: Harlem, New York, NY; Completion: 2024.
Construction Update: The Studio Museum of Harlem
North facade from West 125th Street.
Steel superstructure is nearing completion at the new 82,000 square foot home for The Studio Museum in Harlem. Designed by Adjaye Associates, the massing of the museum features a stack of one and two-story volumes with large apertures that allow the public to glimpse the activity within.
Northwest corner from West 125th Street.
South facade from West 125th Street.
South facade from West 125th Street.
Architects: Adjaye Associates (Design Architect), Cooper Robertson (Architect of Record); Construction Manager: Sciame Construction with McKissack & McKissack; Client: The Studio Museum in Harlem; Program: Museum; Location: Harlem, New York, NY; Completion: 2024.
Construction Update: The Studio Museum of Harlem
North facade from West 125th Street.
Construction is ongoing at the new 82,000 square foot home for The Studio Museum in Harlem, with the steel superstructure nearing topping out. Designed by Adjaye Associates, the massing of the museum features a stack of one and two-story volumes with large apertures that allow the public to glimpse the activity within.
Northwest corner from West 125th Street.
South facade from West 125th Street.
South facade from West 125th Street.
Architects: Adjaye Associates (Design Architect), Cooper Robertson (Architect of Record); Construction Manager: Sciame Construction with McKissack & McKissack; Client: The Studio Museum in Harlem; Program: Museum; Location: Harlem, New York, NY; Completion: 2024.
Construction Update: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
West boundary of the south half of the museum site.
Construction continues at MAD Architects’ second US project, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art at Exposition Park in South Los Angeles. The 300,000 square-foot non-profit museum will feature collection galleries, exhibition spaces, two theaters, digital classrooms and a free public research library for educators, scholars and students. Superstructure is currently rising on the southern half of the museum building.
Aerial rendering of the Lucas Museum. Rendering by MAD Architects. Courtesy of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
West boundary of the north half of the museum site.
Architect: MAD Architects; Client: Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts; Program: Museum, Library, Parking; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Completion: 2026.
Tour: Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Southwest corner of the Saban Building from Wilshire Boulevard.
A December 14th opening date has been set for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. Construction continues at Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s Academy Museum in Los Angeles. Situated on the “Miracle Mile” adjacent to LACMA, the Renzo Piano Building Workshop designed museum for motion pictures will be housed within two structures. A 1939 building that once housed the May Company department store, now renamed the Saban Building, will hold 50,000 square feet of gallery space, project spaces, an outdoor piazza, an education studio, a restaurant, and store. The six-story building was originally designed by Albert C. Martin Sr. in the Streamline Moderne substyle of Art Deco.
South facade of the Saban Building from Wilshire Boulevard.
Closeup of the Saban Building’s southwest corner.
Closeup of the Saban Building’s gold tiled southwest corner.
West facade of the Sphere Building from South Fairfax Avenue.
A new concrete structure, the Sphere Building, will house the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater and be topped by the Dolby Family Terrace with its steel and glass canopy.
Northwest corner of the Sphere Building (center) and the Saban Building (right) from South Fairfax Avenue.
North facade of the Sphere Building from the grounds of LACMA.
North facade of the Sphere Building from the grounds of LACMA.
East facade of the Sphere Building from the grounds of LACMA.
The Spielberg Family Gallery, a restaurant, cafe and retail space will occupy the 10,000-square-foot lobby.
Ground floor of the Saban Building.
Red carpet stair at the ground floor of the Saban Building.
Circulation space adjacent to the exhibition space in the Saban Building.
David Geffen Theater
Housed within a sphere constructed of 13,000 tons of concrete, the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater will be able to screen 35MM, 70MM and digital laser projections.
Ted Mann Theater
Adjacent to the larger David Geffen Theater, the 288-seat Ted Mann Theater will accommodate various programming including Saturday morning children’s matinees.
Ted Mann Theater
Barbara Streisand Bridge
Barbara Streisand Bridge to the Dolby Family Terrace.
Closeup of the Barbara Streisand Bridge.
Dolby Family Terrace
Located above the David Geffen Theater, a glass dome constructed of 1,500 panes shelters the Dolby Family Terrace. Visitors will be shielded from the Los Angeles sun by shades that adapt throughout the day.
Detail of the canopy structure on the Sphere Building.
Detail of the canopy structure on the Sphere Building.
Northwest corner of the Sphere Building (center) and the Saban Building (right) from South Fairfax Avenue.
West facade of the Sphere Building from South Fairfax Avenue.
Tour: Museum of Modern Art Renovation and Expansion
The Museum of Modern Art is ready for it’s reopening later this month, with expanded gallery space, renovations to existing entry and gallery spaces, and a new museum store.
Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Gensler, the MoMA’s expansion occupies two sites to the west of the existing museum. Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects‘ Folk Art Museum occupied the first site from its completion in 2001 until demolition in 2014. The rest of the expansion is located in the base of the adjacent Jean Nouvel tower 53 West 53.
The museum’s main entrance is now marked by a large cantilevered metal canopy at West 53rd Street. Inside, the lobby ceiling height has been raised and the museum store has been relocated one floor below to open up views outward from the lobby. Ticketing desks have also been installed in new locations in the ground floor lobby.
A new blade stair serves as the circulation spine of the new gallery spaces in the west expansion. A solid six inch divider hangs from the roof structure to support the bead blast stainless steel panels and solid northern oak treads and risers. Glass balustrades are cantilevered off of the stair and held in place by pins. The walls of the stairway are clad in bird’s eye maple with acoustic micro-perforations. A separate blackened stainless steel stair at the sixth floor leads to the cafe.
The museum’s expansion includes 47,000 square feet of new and renovated gallery space. Along with the five floors of new gallery space in the west building, some of the galleries added in the Taniguchi expansion of 2004 have also been renovated and reconfigured.
Architects: Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler; Client: The Museum of Modern Art; Program: Museum; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: October 2019.
Tour: Glenstone Museum
Glenstone, a private museum of contemporary art, is located on 230 acres of land in Potomac, Maryland. The museum was developed and financed by local billionaire Mitchell Rales, and opened to the public in 2006 under the curation of Emily Wei Rales. Glenstone is named for the nearby Glen Road and the areas stone quarries. The Gallery, a 30,000 square foot Modernist structure designed by Charles Gwathmey, housed the collection at the museum’s 2006 opening. In 2010, Thomas Phifer was awarded a commission to design the five fold expansion of the museum after a two stage competition. Phifer, who had previously worked for Gwathmey and fellow New York Five Architect Richard Meier, is known for numerous museums and civic buildings.
Arrival Hall
Upon entering the grounds of the museum property, visitors drive to the Parking Grove. An adjacent Arrival Hall offers information and a book store. Alaskan yellow cedar, a soft wood chosen for its complementary tone to the concrete of the pavilions, clads the exterior of the Arrival Hall. Inside, the spaces are clad in a maple wood.
Detail of the maple wall, flooring, and bench.
Bookstore.
Pavilions
The pavilions are situated in a meadow of undulating topography that denies the visitor a clear view of all twelve structures as you follow the winding path to their entrance. Phifer’s site strategy is inspired in part by the dry garden at Ryoan-ji that features fifteen stones in a rectangular gravel field seen from a platform. Visitor’s are never able to see all fifteen stones at the same time, embodying a meditation strategy that favors intuition over reason.
Phifer’s concept for the pavilions was to treat them as a series of rooms, with unique proportions tied to specific artwork, surrounding a water court. Pavilions are sited on the cardinal points to emphasize the changing natural light throughout the day.
Entry.
The cast-in-place concrete used at the pavilion interiors is an architectural concrete made with a mixture of pure white and common grey cement and locally quarried aggregate stones. Finnish plywood panels were used on the handmade formwork to produce a smooth finish for the exterior surface of the concrete. The resulting concrete has slight variations of color and visible lift lines from the removal of the formwork.
Room 1.
Twenty-six thousand precast concrete blocks, measuring six feet by one foot, clad the exterior and interior walls of the pavilions. Blocks were cast off site and vary based on weather conditions during casting and curing. Darker blocks were poured in winter due to temperature and the slower evaporation of water. Surface finish was even affected by removing the formwork in rain or sunny weather. Time will further the contrast of the blocks as they are further exposed to the elements.
Stair handrail detail.
Phifer has situated the twelve pavilions around an 18,000 square foot Water Court which can be viewed through large panels of glass. These German made panels are set in stainless steel mullions and reach heights up to thirty feet.
A platform made of Ipe wood and a teak bench allow visitors to sit and reflect outside in the Water Court. Plantings include water lilies, irises, rushes, cattails, and hardy canna.
Terrazzo made of granite is employed for the floors of the pavilions and complements the surrounding concrete and glass. Although typically polished to a high gloss, the Glenstone’s terrazzo has a matte finish and has a lighter than normal color due to the small aggregate used in the mix.
Room 7 features a monumental bench made of hickory and the largest glass panel in the pavilions, offering visitor’s a stunning view of the surrounding meadow. Maple clads the interior surfaces of the room.
Room 7.
Phifer has specified a plaster for the gallery walls that is made of Italian marble dust and a lime paste from the rocks of the Ticino River in Switzerland.
The clerestories in the pavilions are made of glass that has been acid-etched to produce a uniform and semitransparent surface. This process involves washing clear glass in a light acid bath, creating a smoother surface than sandblasting, to filter natural light entering a space.
Every detail is thoughtfully considered, even the accommodation of sprinkler heads and fire extinguishers.
Water fountains outside of the restrooms.
Located near the pavilions’ entrance, Michael Heizer’s Compression Line is surrounded by argillite, a sedimentary rock of hardened clay particles. This type of argillite comes from the southwest United States and resembles the rusted steel of the sculpture it surrounds. Another piece by Heizer, Collapse, is located in Room 5 and surrounded by the same argillite rock.
Compression Line by Michael Heizer.
Collapse by Michael Heizer.
The Gallery
Glenstone’s first art gallery was designed by the late Charles Gwathmey and opened in 2006. The exterior is clad in zinc and gray granite.
The Gallery (2006).
Sylvester by Richard Serra (2001).
Landscape
The nearly 300 acre landscape of Glenstone is designed by landscape architect Peter Walker and Partners and includes paths, trails, streams, meadows, forests, and outdoor sculptures.
Split-Rocker by Jeff Koons, 2000.
Sculpture in the surrounding landscape includes Jeff Koons’s Split-Rocker, 2000, which is planted each year in the spring with New Guinea Impatiens.
Split-Rocker before its spring planting.
Clay Houses (Boulder-Room-Holes) by Andy Goldsworthy, 2007.
Architects: Thomas Phifer and Partners (The Pavilions), Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects (The Gallery); Landscape Architect: Peter Walker and Partners; Client: Glenstone Museum; Program: Museum; Location: Potomac, Maryland; Completion: 2006 (The Gallery), 2018 (The Pavilions).
Construction Update: Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Saban Building.
Construction continues at Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s Academy Museum in Los Angeles. Situated on the “Miracle Mile” adjacent to LACMA, the museum for motion pictures’ program will be contained within two structures. A 1939 structure that once housed the May Company department store, now renamed the Saban Building, will house 50,000 square feet of gallery space, project spaces, an outdoor piazza, an education studio, a restaurant, and store. A new concrete structure, the Sphere Building, will house the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater and be topped by the Dolby Family Terrace with its steel and glass canopy.
Skybridge connecting the Saban building to the Sphere Building.
Detail of the canopy structure on the Sphere Building.
Detail of the canopy structure on the Sphere Building.
Detail of the canopy structure on the Sphere Building.
Architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop in collaboration with Gensler (Architect of Record) and SPF:a; Client: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) ; Program: Museum; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Completion: Late 2019.