The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum announced that it has completed its $54 million RE:DESIGN capital campaign goal and commenced renovating the Carnegie Mansion to create enlarged and enhanced facilities for exhibitions, collections display and education programming.
The museum also announced today the completion of the renovation of the museum’s two townhouses on East 90th Street, which house the National Design Library, the Master’s Program in the History of Decorative Arts and Design and administrative offices. Students, design professionals and the public can now benefit from the modernized National Design Library located in the townhouses, with restored historic reading and study areas, as well as reference spaces, open stacks and a rare-book room.
In addition, the museum completed the outfitting of an off-site facility that includes collection storage, a state-of-the-art conservation lab, a fully equipped photography studio and a collection study room for curators, students and scholars. This facility will permit Cooper-Hewitt to grow its collection with fewer space constraints, improve collection care and research, and digitize the collection. It will be accessible to the public, by appointment.
“We are very grateful to campaign co-chairs Harvey Krueger and Michael Francis for their leadership of the capital campaign and to the museum’s trustees for their commitment to this ambitious project,” said Paul Herzan, chairman of the board. “To be embarking on the transformation of the Carnegie Mansion with all the funding secured is a huge achievement.”
About Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
Founded in 1897, Cooper-Hewitt is the only museum in the nation devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. The museum presents compelling perspectives on the impact of design on daily life through active educational programs, exhibitions and publications.
Executive Architect
Founded in 1968, Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP is a highly collaborative international practice of 130 professionals in New York and Washington, D.C., with recognized expertise in diverse areas of architecture, historic preservation, urban design and planning. Richard W. Southwick, F.A.I.A., leads Cooper-Hewitt’s expansion project for the firm.
Design Architect
Richard Gluckman, F.A.I.A., and David Mayner are principals of the New York-based architecture firm, Gluckman Mayner Architects. The firm has designed a wide range of institutional, commercial and residential projects throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, and a major component of the firm’s practice has been the design of art-related facilities.