Firsts steps of groundbreaking of Studio Museum Harlem by Adjaye Associates

Plans to replace the home of Harlem’s Studio Museum with a new six-story building at 144 West 125th Street are now moving forward, as permits for the project have been filed with the city.

Exterior view. Image Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

The new museum home will increase overall square footage to an area 7,600 square meter. The project by Adjaye Associates, will replace an existing century-old building repurposed in the 1980s by architect J. Max Bond Jr, the new building placed at 144 West 125th Street will rise 37 metre to become a new stand-out on the historic 125th Street.

The project is being paid for through a public-private partnership with the City of New York and has successfully raised $175 million for the first phase of construction. The new building designed in collaboration with Cooper Robertson, is aiming for LEED Silver certification and has been designed to its design was influenced by the neighborhood’s historic brownstones and surrounding buildings.

The permit specifies an impressive 7,790 square meter of gallery, community and administrative spaces, including lecture halls, a cafe, a museum store and more than double their current space for their artist residency program. A large auditorium will burrow down from ground level, with galleries, storage spaces and offices on floors 2 through 6. The building will be capped by a rooftop terrace offering views of Upper Manhattan.

“Above all, we have sought to create spaces that celebrate the rich heritage of the institution, its relationship with artists and its role as a pillar of Harlem’s cultural life, nspired by the architectural character of the neighborhood and featuring various scales of gallery space that speak to the diverse needs of contemporary artists, the design seeks to ensure that artistic dialogue remains at the heart of the Museum.” said David Adjaye in a press release.

Construction is expected to kick off in fall 2018 and wrap up by 2021.

Access. Image Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

Section. Image Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

Lobby. Image Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

Hall. Image Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

Gallery. Image Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

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Venue

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144 West - 125th Street, New York, USA.

DAVID ADJAYE

David Adjaye was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1966. The son of a Ghanaian diplomat who has lived in Tanzania, Egypt, Yemen, and Lebanon before moving to Britain at the age of nine, he led a privileged life and was privately educated. He earned his BA at London South Bank University, before graduating with an MA in 1993 from the Royal College of Art. In 1993, the same year of graduation, Adjaye won the RIBA Bronze Medal, a prize offered for RIBA Part 1 projects, normally won by students who have only completed a bachelor's degree.

Previously a unit tutor at the Architectural Association, he was also a lecturer at the Royal College of Art. After very short terms of work with the architectural studios of David Chipperfield (London) and Eduardo Souto de Moura (Porto), Adjaye established a practice with William Russell in 1994 called Adjaye & Russell, based in North London. This office was disbanded in 2000 and Adjaye established his own eponymous studio at this point.

Recent works include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, and the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management completed in 2010. On April 15, 2009, he was selected in a competition to design the $500 million National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., planned to open in 2015. His design features a crown motif from Yoruba sculpture.

Alongside his international commissions, Adjayes work spans exhibitions, private homes, and artist collaborations. He built homes for the designer Alexander McQueen, artist Jake Chapman, photographer Juergen Teller, actor Ewan McGregor, and artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster. For artist Chris Ofili, he designed a new studio and a beach house in Port of Spain. He worked with Ofili to create an environment for the Upper Room, which was later acquired by Tate Britain and caused a nationwide media debate. He also collaborated with artist Olafur Eliasson to create a light installation, Your black horizon, at the 2005 Venice Biennale. He has also worked on the art project Sankalpa with director Shekhar Kapur. Adjaye coauthored two seasons of BBC's Dreamspaces television series and hosts a BBC radio program. In June 2005, he presented the documentary, Building Africa: Architecture of a Continent. In 2008, he participated in Manifesta 7.

In February 2009, the cancellation or postponement of four projects in Europe and Asia forced the firm to enter into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), a deal to stave off insolvency proceedings which prevents financial collapse by rescheduling debts – estimated at about £1m – to creditors.

Adjaye currently holds a Visiting Professor post at Princeton University School of Architecture. He was the first Louis Kahn visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and was the Kenzo Tange Professor in Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design. In addition, he is a RIBA Chartered Member, an AIA Honorary Fellow, a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council. He also serves as member of the Advisory Boards of the Barcelona Institute of Architecture and the London School of Economics Cities programme.

The studio's first solo exhibition: "David Adjaye: Making Public Buildings" was shown at the Whitechapel Gallery in London in January 2006, with Thames and Hudson publishing the catalogue of the same name. This followed their 2005 publication of Adjaye's first book entitled "David Adjaye Houses".