The New Home of the Studio Museum in Harlem
The new 82,000-square-foot home of the Studio Museum provides state-of-the-art galleries, an expansive lobby, flexible program spaces, and dedicated Education Workshops, which together foster deeper engagement with visitors of all ages and elevate the Museum’s service to artists, museumgoers, and the Harlem community. Space for exhibitions and the Artist-in-Residence program will more than double, and indoor and outdoor public space will increase by almost 70 percent.
The architectural design takes its inspiration from the brownstones, churches, and bustling sidewalks of Harlem. The masonry-framed windows of Harlem’s apartment buildings are echoed in the composition of a facade with windows of varying sizes and proportions. The neighborhood’s churches find a counterpart in a top-lit interior gallery with ample wall area for installing large-scale artworks and a central stair that provides lookout points from the landings. A set of glass doors, which can be opened in different configurations, welcomes people to descending steps that evoke the ubiquitous stoops of Harlem’s brownstones. The steps can be used as benches for watching lectures, performances, and films presented on the building’s lower level—or simply for relaxing in informal gatherings.
The new facility also includes a rooftop terrace with striking views of the surrounding area, with a dynamic landscape design by the Harlem-based firm Studio Zewde. Conceived as a space for gathering, reflection, and engagement, the terrace features native plantings and sculptural seating that frame striking panoramic views of Harlem and beyond. On the Museum’s lower level, a café operated by the local family-owned restaurant Settepani will further enhance the Museum’s commitment to organizations and businesses in its neighborhood.
Early Viewing Opportunities
In the beginning of November, the Museum will offer exclusive viewing opportunities for Studio Museum Members to experience the new building and preview the inaugural exhibitions, installations, and commissions in advance of the general public. For information about membership, please email membership@studiomuseum.org.
Visitor Information
The Studio Museum in Harlem is located at 144 West 125th Street, between Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue).
The Studio Museum will be open Wednesday through Sunday, from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, with extended hours on Friday and Saturday, from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm.
The Museum is open to Members on Saturday mornings, from 10:00 to 11:00 am, before the galleries open to the public, except for the Museum’s first public day, November 15, when it will open at 11:00 am.
Admission rates are offered as a suggestion, with Sundays free for everyone. Suggested rates are $16 for adults and $9 for seniors (sixty-five years and over), students, and visitors with disabilities (care partners are free). Admission is free for children sixteen and under.
Tickets to the Studio Museum may be purchased online at studiomuseum.org/visit or at the Museum.
Funding Credits
The Studio Museum’s Creating Space campaign, which supports the design and construction of its new home and ensures the institution’s long-term sustainability, has raised more than $300 million. The campaign has enjoyed broad-based and ongoing support from the Museum’s Board of Trustees, the City of New York, and individuals, foundations, and corporate partners, testifying to the widespread appreciation for the vitality and necessity of the Studio Museum’s mission.
Bank of America is the Studio Museum in Harlem’s lead opening and inaugural exhibitions sponsor. Major support for the inaugural exhibitions and publications has been provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Funding for Tom Lloyd is provided by the Holly Peterson Foundation and Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, with publication support from Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund.
Support for the collection handbook, Meaning Matter Memory: Selections from the Studio Museum in Harlem Collection, is thanks in part to the Terra Foundation for American Art.
The Artist-in-Residence alumni installation is supported by a grant from the Robert Lehman Foundation. The Studio Museum in Harlem’s Artist-in-Residence program is funded by the Glenstone Foundation.
Inaugural artist commissions by Camille Norment and Christopher Myers are supported by funds from the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Acquisition Committee and Miyoung Lee and Neil Simpkins. Additional support for Camille Norment’s installation is provided by Dawanna Williams.
Generous support for Studio Sundays is provided by Art Bridges.
Additional funding is generously provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.
About Adjaye Associates
Since establishing Adjaye Associates in 2000, David Adjaye has crafted a global team that is multicultural and stimulated by the broadest possible cultural discourse. The practice has studios in Accra, London, and New York, with work spanning the globe. The practice’s most well-known commission to date, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), opened in 2016 on the National Mall in Washington, DC, and was named “Cultural Event of the Year” by the New York Times.
The firm has received widespread recognition for its contributions to architecture. Adjaye was announced the winner of the 2021 RIBA Royal Gold Medal, considered one of the highest honors in British architecture, for significant contributions to the field internationally. In his award citation, the 2021 RIBA Honours Committee explained, “Through his work as an architect, Sir David Adjaye speaks confidently across cultures, disciplines, politics, and continents. His body of work is global and local, finely attuned as it reflects and responds to context and community, climate, and culture.”
About Cooper Robertson
Cooper Robertson is a New York–based architecture and urban design firm with a diverse body of work spanning all scales. From buildings to public spaces to cities, the firm is recognized nationally for design excellence with more than 150 awards for projects integrating architecture and urban design.
The firm’s renowned cultural portfolio, led by Partner Erin Flynn, RA, and Bruce Davis, AIA, includes the reinvention and expansion of more than fifty-five museums internationally. Acknowledged as one of the foremost museum planning and design firms in the country, Cooper Robertson has completed new buildings for the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, and the Gateway Arch Museum, as well as strategic planning and visioning for the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the J. Paul Getty Trust.
About the Studio Museum in Harlem
Founded in 1968 by a diverse group of artists, community activists, and philanthropists, the Studio Museum in Harlem is internationally known for its catalytic role in promoting the work of artists of African descent. The Studio Museum’s new home, situated at its longtime location on Manhattan’s West 125th Street, will open on November 15, 2025. Designed by Adjaye Associates with Cooper Robertson serving as executive architect, the building—the first created expressly for the institution’s program—will enable the Studio Museum to better serve a growing and diverse audience, provide additional educational opportunities for people of all ages, expand its program of world-renowned exhibitions, effectively display its singular collection, and strengthen its trailblazing Artist-in-Residence program.
While the Museum has been closed, its groundbreaking exhibitions, thought-provoking conversations, and engaging art-making workshops have continued at a variety of partner and satellite locations in Harlem and beyond. For more information, visit studiomuseum.org.
Source: Studio Museum in Harlem
