The new Museum of Arts and Design at 2 Columbus Circle opened to the public in late September 2008. Located at the southwest corner of Central Park, where four subway lines and seven bus lines intersect, the Museum's new home is well-positioned to serve over 500,000 visitors annually.
The Museum at 2 Columbus Circle is a vibrant and engaging cultural center like no other institution in the city. Offering more than double the exhibition space of our current location, our new home will present a fully integrated visitor experience for our rapidly growing audiences. For the first time in its history, the Museum will have dedicated space for its permanent collection. The entire sixth floor will house our educational programs and three artist-in-residence studios, making the Museum the first multi-disciplinary institution to offer arts-in-education, hands-on art-making, and art making within the museum experience. While the
redesign was roundly criticized in a number of circles,
others found it an intriguing and fresh use of a complicated modernist space.
The new Museum also has a 155-seat auditorium and a ninth floor restaurant with sweeping views of Central Park. The luminescent ceramic exterior of the new building will symbolize the revitalization of an important urban space and underscore our dedication to materials and process.
