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Maya Lin discusses her new Museum of Chinese in America design in PBS special

2022-06-13T16:42:00-04:00

The famed Vietnam Wall Memorial designer and 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient took a studio visit with PBS correspondent Jeffrey Brown to discuss her designs for the new Museum of Chinese in America following its partial destruction due to fire in January of 2020.

“I don’t think you can be an Asian-American in 2022 and not be acutely aware of the anti-Asian sentiment,” Lin said at the outset, speaking of the appalling rash of hate crimes that have tormented communities both large and small, from coast to coast as part of our constantly deteriorating social fabric over the past two-plus years since the pandemic.

Personally, I found the concept for the expanded museum rather promising in spite of the criticisms that were wielded against it following the publication of the first batch of project renderings in early April.

The museum's structure gives a simultaneous nod to the universal task of ...

New York's Museum of Chinese in America reveals renderings of its Maya Lin-led revamp

2022-04-07T14:35:00-04:00

An important part of New York’s rich cultural fabric is coming into closer view after the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) revealed renderings for its new Maya Lin-designed permanent headquarters at 215 Centre Street in Manhattan.

The project will entail the expansion of its existing building into a 68,000-square-foot museum with classrooms, a research and genealogy center, theater, and exhibition spaces from Ralph Appelbaum Associates that will host up to 300,000 visitors a year.

In spite of some recent local opposition, Lin said she wants the museum to serve as an inspirational resource at a time when the community has seen an increase in the kinds of hateful acts that she personally reports to have experienced throughout her life.

Her de...

Museum of Chinese in America suffers devastating fire

2020-01-27T13:09:00-05:00

A facility used by the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City (MOCA) was engulfed by a devastating fire last week that likely destroyed the entirety of the museum's collection.

The impacted facility, at 70 Mulberry Street, is owned by the City of New York and consists of a repurposed former school that "educated generations of immigrants before becoming a cherished cultural landmark in the neighborhood," The New York Times reports, and is in fact separate from the museum's galleries, which are designed by Maya Lin Studio and Bialosky New York, opened in 2009, and are located several blocks away at 215 Centre Street. The museum's history dates back over three decades as the Chinatown History Project. One firefighter and a bystander were injured in the blaze with non-life threatening injuries.

Museum officials report that the museum's galleries at 215 Centre Street remain open for business and are very much welcoming visitors. A GoFundMe drive has been initiated to help suppor...