Frank O. Gehry - New York Guggenheim Museum

Agreement reached
Frank O. Gehry
New York Guggenheim Museum

The Giuliani administration and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has reached an agreement for the construction of a new Guggenheim museum on the waterfront in New York City.

Photo: Whit Preston
The new Guggenheim New York Model

Frank Gehry's design for the 520,000 square foot museum complex, just south of the South Street Seaport, is conceived as a building which would be elevated above the East River, at points rising from 64 feet to 112 feet above the surface of the River. The building will be supported by six reinforced super pylons that will be anchored directly into the bedrock of the riverbed.
Raising the building above the surface of the River in this manner will allow a sense of openness to be maintained at street level, so that the visual corridor to the River will remain open from Wall Street and the surrounding neighborhood.
The curvilinear outline of the public plaza will reinforce and enhance the uninterrupted flow of pedestrian traffic along the planned lower Manhattan waterfront esplanade between the South Street Seaport and the Wall Street Heliport.
The new museum will focus on art after 1945 and will include a center for architecture and design.
Frank Gehry expects many changes, in part based on the reaction by local residents, that could include abandoning the titanium exterior.
"The important urban idea is to fit a building into the fabric of the city ; it takes time to get the body language of a building, to fit it into an environment."

At the uptown Guggenheim Museum Ceremony Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Thomas Krens, director of the Guggenheim Foundation and architect Frank Gehry each acknowledged that many steps remain to be clear before construction could start.

For the $678 million project to go forward, the City Council has to sign off on it, as do the state and federal governments and the museum must raise hundreds of millions of dollars to build the project.
Peter Lewis, CEO of Progressive Insurance Corp. in Mayfield, who is chairman of the Guggenheim's board of trustees, will donate a substantial sum to build the new branch of the Museum. No specific figure has been confirmed. Lewis, an enthusiastic supporter of Gehry's architecture, also made a large donation toward the construction of the Frank Gehry designed new Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.

Sketch courtesy FOGA
An early sketch of the new New York Guggenheim Museum

View the arcspace Frank Gehry catalog.

Frank Gehry arcspace features





				Features
		Agreement reached Frank O. Gehry New York Guggenheim Museum The Giuliani administration and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has reached an agreement for the construction of a new Guggenheim museum on the waterfront in New York City. Photo: Whit Preston The new Guggenheim New York Model Frank Gehry's design for the 520,000 square foot museum complex, just south of the South Street Seaport, is conceived as a building which would be elevated above the East River, at points rising from 64 feet to 112 feet above the surface of the River. The building will be supported by six reinforced super pylons that will be anchored directly into the bedrock of the riverbed. Raising the building above the surface of the River in this manner will allow a sense of openness to be maintained at street level, so that the visual corridor to the River will remain open from Wall Street and the surrounding neighborhood. The curvilinear outline of the public plaza will reinforce and enhance the uninterrupted flow of pedestrian traffic along the planned lower Manhattan waterfront esplanade between the South Street Seaport and the Wall Street Heliport. The new museum will focus on art after 1945 and will include a center for architecture and design. Frank Gehry expects many changes, in part based on the reaction by local residents, that could include abandoning the titanium exterior. "The important urban idea is to fit a building into the fabric of the city ; it takes time to get the body language of a building, to fit it into an environment." At the uptown Guggenheim Museum Ceremony Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Thomas Krens, director of the Guggenheim Foundation and architect Frank Gehry each acknowledged that many steps remain to be clear before construction could start. For the $678 million project to go forward, the City Council has to sign off on it, as do the state and federal governments and the museum must raise hundreds of millions of dollars to build the project. Peter Lewis, CEO of Progressive Insurance Corp. in Mayfield, who is chairman of the Guggenheim's board of trustees, will donate a substantial sum to build the new branch of the Museum. No specific figure has been confirmed. Lewis, an enthusiastic supporter of Gehry's architecture, also made a large donation toward the construction of the Frank Gehry designed new Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Sketch courtesy FOGA An early sketch of the new New York Guggenheim Museum View the arcspace Frank Gehry catalog. Frank Gehry arcspace features