New Museum at 235 Bowery, Rendering via OMA Instagram.
Located on the Bowery in Lower Manhattan, the museum debuted a new seven-story building designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), led by architect Shohei Shigematsu in collaboration with Rem Koolhaas. The addition brings the museum’s total footprint to roughly 120,000 square feet and introduces new galleries, artist studios, and public spaces.
The opening marks the culmination of a project first announced nearly a decade ago and delayed by construction and pandemic-related setbacks. The museum had been closed since 2024 while work on the 60,000-square-foot expansion was completed.
Museum officials described the project not as a traditional annex but as a second building designed to operate in tandem with the original 2007 structure. The two are connected by bridges and a central atrium, allowing visitors to move fluidly between them.
The expansion also reorients the museum toward the street, adding a public plaza at the corner of Bowery and Prince Street and increasing transparency at ground level. Architects said the design was intended to make the institution more accessible and better integrated into the surrounding neighborhood.
The reopening coincides with the launch of a large-scale inaugural exhibition, New Humans: Memories of the Future, which occupies both buildings. The show brings together more than 200 artists, writers, and scientists from over 50 countries, examining how technological change has reshaped ideas of the human body and identity over the past century.
Works in the exhibition range from early 20th-century avant-garde material to contemporary installations addressing artificial intelligence, bioengineering, and digital culture. The presentation is intended to reflect recurring themes in periods of rapid technological transformation.
The museum’s reopening weekend, which included free admission, drew large crowds, with advance tickets selling out ahead of the public debut.
Founded in 1977, the New Museum has long focused on emerging and under-recognized artists. The expansion adds infrastructure for that mission, including dedicated studio space, educational facilities, and a permanent home for NEW INC, the museum’s cultural incubator.
The opening also comes at a moment of leadership transition. Lisa Phillips, who has served as director for nearly three decades, is stepping down, framing the expansion as a turning point for the institution’s future.
With its enlarged campus and interdisciplinary programming, the museum is positioning itself not only as an exhibition space but as a site for production, research, and public engagement—an approach that reflects broader changes in the role of contemporary art institutions.
