New Museum files plans for Rem Koolhaas-designed addition

The addition will replace an existing building next door to the museum

Nearly three years after the New Museum announced that it would undertake a major expansion of its Lower East Side building, there's finally some progress on plans for that new wing.

Shutterstock

A seven-story building adjacent to the New Museum's current HQ will be demolished and replaced.

The Real Deal reports that plans have been filed with the city's Department of Buildings for that new addition, which will rise next to the museum's current HQ, designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA. The new building will be designed by Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu of OMA, and will be the firm's first public building in New York City. (Shigematsu is behind its first residential building, a condo rising on East 22nd Street.)

The new wing, which will replace an existing six-story building next to the museum, will boost the museum's existing footprint by some 50,000 square feet. In addition to providing more space for galleries and other performances, the new wing is expected to improve circulation in the current building.

Per the plans on file, the eight-story structure will also have a cafe, bookstore, offices, room for art storage, and terraces on the top three floors.

The expansion will cost $85 million, and the project is expected to break ground sometime this year. Demolition plans for the old structure, located at 231 Bowery, have not yet been filed.