I.

Introduction
a. Mid April, scaffolding set up around the American Folk Art Museum in
Manhattan on West 53
rd
Street and 5
th
Ave, looming over pedestrians and
creating an even more narrow funnel of traffic along the sidewalk
i. Drizzling rain, usual city grime loose on the pavement
b. In comparison to its neighbor, the Modern Museum of Art, the AFAM
looks like a worn bronze shoe box in a way that is unique to the tall
glass structures that occupy the majority of the metropolitan area
downtown
c. Purchased in 2011 by MoMA after defaulting on its debts, the AFAM will
soon no longer be a part of the urban landscape
d. With plans to expand and renovate its building, MoMA has made the
decision to raze the AFAM, built in 2001
i. Critics howling unethical
ii. MoMA says its unavoidable and necessary
e. Thesis: Do the projected benefits of the Museum of Modern Art's
expansion plans outweigh its consequences, including the demolition of
the American Folk Art Museum?
II. Historical Example
a. Laing Stores
i. Faade attempted to be preserved
ii. Languished away in storage
1. Until parts of it were stolen for scrap
2. Twice
III. Who/What/When/Why
a. First week of January 2014, confirmed that the AFAM will be torn down
i. April 2013, director of the MoMA Glenn D. Lowry announced
intentions to demolish museum to make way for MoMA
expansions
ii. Hired architect partners Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio
(firm name: Diller Scofidio & Renfo) as consultants to explore
alternatives of demolition/ways to preserve the AFAM
iii. Early Jan 2013, after six months of being on the project, Diller and
Scofidio announce there is no way to save the museum
1. With the expansion plan, too much of the building would
have to be taken down to be worth saving any of it
2. Matter of function rather than aesthetics
a. Because the floor plates support the facade, a
reconfiguration would require much of the building
to be dismantled and reconstructed. To save the
building, we had to lose too much of the building,
Ms. Diller said. You pass a tipping point where
theres not enough of the original structure to
actually maintain its identity.
i. D&S strained proposing to tear down
anothers firms building, esp. when only 12
years old
b. Proposed Expansions
i. Art Bay
1. Ground floor area directly visible from street with
retractable glass faade
2. Gray Box white gallery space and black box
performance space
3. Acoustic absorption panels for performance art
ii. New gallery space
1. Currently very crowded
a. Has reached annual attendance of 3 million in
125,000 sq ft
b. Metropolitan Museum of Art has 6 million visitors
and 2 million sq ft
2. Second (double height), fourth, and fifth floors will now
flow continuously from one property to the next
3. 15,500 sq ft of space
4. 39,000 sq ft in Nouvel tower
a. Critics question if more space will improve traffic
b. Michael Kimmelman for NY Times likened little
extra space to adding another lane to overcrowded
highway only worsening congestion
c. Opposition to razing the MoMA
i. Interesting Diller and Scofido proposed tearing it down, when they
worked on the High Line repurposing old elevated tracks
ii. AFAMs architects grief stricken
iii. Suggestions for new home for faade
1. MoMA PS1
2. Storm King
d. Dissent over preserving the facade
i. Williams, building and faade a whole and not interested in
fate like the Laing Stores
ii. Diller adamantly viewing it as empty facadism
iii. Gill likening it to taxidermy
IV. Conclusion
a. 2004 MoMA expansion and renovation
i. Done by Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi
ii. $858 million
b. Still dont know where money is coming from
i. Private, not municipal money




Photos
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/arts/design/a-grand-redesign-of-moma-does-not-spare-a-notable-
neighbor.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/arts/design/architects-mourn-former-folk-art-museum-building.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/14/arts/design/momas-plan-to-demolish-folk-art-museum-lacks-
vision.html