MoMA To Eliminate American Folk Art Museum for Expansion

New York City’s Museum of Modern Art is getting a makeover, but not everyone is excited about the forthcoming plans. Despite protests from various architects and preservationists, trustees of the museum recently approved initial details of a major expansion, which will demolish the American Folk Art Museum.

“The analysis that we undertook was lengthy and rigorous, and ultimately led us to the determination that creating a new building on the site of the former American Folk Art Museum is the only way to achieve a fully integrated campus,” Glenn D. Lowry, MoMA’s director, said in a statement on the museum’s website.

The controversial project, which is expected to be finished by 2018 or 2019, will add more than 40,000 square feet of space for new galleries and public areas. The expansion will also allow the museum’s lobby and ground-floor areas to serve as public gathering spaces.