Over its 57 year history, the Guggenheim has had additions from Gwathmey Siegel due to its low ceiling heights and relatively small exhibition space. My studio was tasked with documenting the museum, building a studio model, and then designing our own intervention. This expansion was to be designed with the intent of it being situated as if it were 1959, when the museum first opened.
     Since this is an iconic building, I wanted to “tread lightly” on the design. I did not want to design an expansion that would ultimately take attention away from the Guggenheim, but rather design an expansion that complemented the concept of the building.
     I designed an annex that continues the spiral and acts as a “landing” area to each floor. The Guggenheim was designed on an 8’x 8’ grid, however, I did not implement this grid into the design because that would dilute the concept. Instead, I implemented a 4‘x 4’ grid from which all measurements are derived. The annex expands at every level just like the Guggenheim, however it is only the cantilever that fans out an extra 4' per level. This results in an annex that has a monolithic white facade so that it fades into the background. The first 7 floors are for museum use, while the roof is a rent-able artist studio.