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Take a look inside Studio Gang’s newly-opened Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History

2023-05-04T08:00:00-04:00

Studio Gang has completed work on the $465 million new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Coinciding with the official public opening today, the museum has shared first photos of the project, showcasing the 230,000-square-foot wing that replaces several outdated small buildings with new education and exhibition spaces, a theater, storage, laboratories, insectarium, and butterfly vivarium.

Image: © Iwan Baan

Michael Kimmelman recently gave the project a rave review, exalting its merits as a well-detailed and materials-rich environment with the intangible staying power to last for generations.

Image: Alvaro Keding/© AMNH

Image: © Iwan Baan

The wing features exhibition designs from Ralph Appelbaum Associates and a parametric five-story central atrium made from shotcrete and engineered in place with the help of Arup. The Center then connects to the museum's ten other buildings in 33 places, ...

Studio Gang’s Museum of Natural History expansion set to open as construction photos show ‘fluid landscape’ interior

2023-04-05T11:18:00-04:00

The Studio Gang-designed Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation is approaching completion in New York. Set to open on May 4, 2023, the project is the latest addition to the city’s American Museum of Natural History and is described by the firm as “a fluid landscape that heightens visitors’ sense of discovery and wonder.”

Construction progress October 2022. Image credit: Timothy Schenck/© AMNH

The scheme has been designed to improve the functionality and visitor experience of the museum campus, creating a new accessible entrance at Columbus Avenue. The building forms thirty connections with ten different buildings, while also providing new exhibition, education, collections, and research spaces. The project broke ground in 2019 following permit approval in 2016.

Construction progress October 2022. Image credit: Timothy Schenck/© AMNH

Described by Studio Gang as “akin to a porous formation shaped by the flow of wind and water,” the center is anchored by a central, five-sto...

James Stewart Polshek, academic and designer of important public architecture, has passed away aged 92

2022-09-12T19:14:00-04:00

A rare modest figure in a crowded era of star architects and designers has passed away as the New York Times is reporting the death of James Stewart Polshek on Friday at his home in Manhattan.

Polshek was known as the designer of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Newtown Creek sewage plant in Brooklyn, and Newseum in Washington, D.C., among many others. His colleagues recalled him as a progressive champion who balanced the ideological pull of high modernism with a sensitivity to different forms, themes, building types, and architectural styles. In a statement published by the Architectural Record, Polshek’s former firm partner Richard Olcott said he was "ahead of his time."

William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park. Photo credit: © Timothy Hursley.

Born in Akron, Ohio in 1930, Polshek studied architecture at nearby Case Western Reserve University and later Yale before pursuing a Fulbright Scholarship in Copenhagen and beginnin...

The American Museum of Natural History is NYC's exciting new vaccination site

2021-04-29T12:48:00-04:00

New Yorkers who have yet to receive their Covid-19 vaccine can now get jabbed under the American Museum of Natural History’s iconic blue whale, which has been adorned with a colossal bandage. The museum began administering the Moderna vaccine to people 18 and up in its Milstein Hall of Ocean Life last week and is offering anyone who receives the shot at the site (plus three friends) complimentary admission.

Following the news that all US adults are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, this “whale of an announcement”, as comically put by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, is one that serves as a symbol of progress for New Yorkers amidst the ongoing pandemic. It is also a means to get individuals enthused about going in to get vaccinated, especially as appointments are becoming easier to obtain.

According to The Art Newspaper, the museum is offering approximately 1,000 Moderna vaccines per day between Fridays and Tuesdays. Some appointments will be reserved for New York City Housing Authority residents and staff, and members of the District Council 37 union. People have the choice of walking in or booking their appointments in advance via the NYC Covid-19 Vaccine Finder.

The museum joins the over 600 vaccination sites across New York.

Seven years in the works, Jeanne Gang’s $383M Museum of Natural History expansion breaks ground

2019-06-12T15:24:00-04:00

Following delays caused by a lawsuit aimed at protecting the adjacent, city-owned Theodore Roosevelt Park, construction officially kicked off for the American Museum of Natural History’s new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. Designed by architect Jeanne Gang, the $383 million Center will add new galleries, classrooms, a theatre, and an expanded library while linking 10 museum buildings for better circulation throughout the campus.

A rendering of the Gilder Center's interior. Rendering by MIR and Studio Gang.

Entrance to the Gilder Center from Theodore Roosevelt Park. Rendering by MIR and Studio Gang.

Studio Gang-led expansion of American Museum of Natural History is moving forward

2017-08-15T13:34:00-04:00

The proposed building will contain exhibition space on the ground floor and second floor, classrooms between the second and third floor, a theater on the third floor and offices between the fourth and sixth floors. There will also be an event space on the second floor and an aquarium room on the fifth floor.

The proposed $325 million six-story expansion won the Landmarks Commission’s approval in October 2016. Designed by Studio Gang, the building will be located along Columbus Avenue on the museum’s rear grounds near West 79th Street. The majority of the 218,000-square-foot Gilder Center will be carved out of the museum’s existing footprint to minimize encroachment on the adjacent Theodore Roosevelt Park.

Image courtesy of Studio Gang

Contrasting the museum’s dominant brick-and-mortar facades, the new wing will be constructed from curvilinear stone and glass.

Image courtesy of Studio Gang

The construction on the building is set to be complete by 2020.