New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has selected Brooklyn-based architecture firm Peterson Rich Office to design a new gallery and reimagine the museum’s dining and retail spaces.
Additionally, Peterson Rich Office will renovate the Met’s street-level entrance at 83rd Street and Fifth Avenue. Beyer Blinder Belle Architects will serve as the project’s executive architects.
The project, currently in its planning phases, includes the conversion of the current Met Store gift shop into a new 11,500-square-foot gallery to display the Costume Institute’s annual spring show.
Max Hollein, the museum’s director and CEO, said: “We’re thrilled to partner with Peterson Rich Office on this complex and transformative project, which will allow us to present more art and exhibitions and to better meet the needs of Met visitors, especially in a space so central to the museum.
“The ways in which visitors and local communities interact with cultural institutions have changed dramatically over the past few years, and this project presents an opportunity for us to invest even more in the visitor experience and create new ways for all communities to enjoy the museum – both during and outside our regular hours.”
The development will take several years, the Met said in a press release. The first phase involves building the new exhibition gallery on the first floor. This will be followed by the works on the entrance, and the dining and retail spaces.
Investing in the visitor experience
The new gallery is scheduled to be completed by 2026. Fundraising is already in progress and is being led by Met trustee Anna Wintour.
Architects Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich said: “We are honored to be a part of a long lineage of architects working within such an iconic New York, and uniquely American, institution.
“It is with a sense of great responsibility that we undertake this project, which will be transformative for the museum’s public realm, the Costume Institute, and the Met’s special exhibition spaces.”
Additional details about the project will be shared in the coming months.
Images courtesy of the Met
