A conversation on the Museum of Modern Art’s plan for expansion

On January 28, 2014, The Architectural League presented, in partnership with the Municipal Art Society and the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter, a conversation on the Museum of Modern Art’s Plan for Expansion.

The intention of the program was to create an opportunity for discussion of the museum’s expansion plan, including the planned demolition of the American Folk Art Museum building. The League first called for the Museum of Modern Art “to reconsider its decision to demolish the American Folk Art Museum” and to “provide more information about why it considers it necessary to tear down this significant work of contemporary architecture” in April 2013, when the Museum initially announced its plan. The League wrote then that “[t]he public has a substantial and legitimate interest in this decision.”

The conversation at the New York Society for Ethical Culture included an introduction (08:27) of the proposed project by Glenn Lowry (director of the Museum of Modern Art) and Ann Temkin (The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture), as well as a presentation (21:34) of the museum’s plan by Elizabeth Diller (principal of Diller Scofidio + Renfro). Following the presentations, Reed Kroloff (director of the Cranbrook Academy) moderated a lively discussion (55:49) among Cathleen McGuigan (editor of Architectural Record), Jorge Otero-Pailos (architect and preservation theorist), Nicolai Ouroussoff (critic and writer), Stephen Rustow (principal of design firm Museoplan), and Karen Stein (architectural consultant and writer) who argued a spectrum of positions and analyses in response to the Museum’s plans.