In its continued pursuit of expanding access to the institution and art alike, the Whitney Museum of American Art enlisted Modellus Novus to redesign its existing ground floor restaurant & plaza, and cafe on its eighth floor terrace, currently under construction. Together with new commissions from acclaimed artists Rashid Johnson and Dyani White-Hawk-Polk, the museum’s hospitality environments find new ways of welcoming a larger diversity of patrons and celebrating the museum’s coveted location through negotiations between interior and exterior.

At the ground floor, Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s vision for a transparent and inviting public space is enhanced through two grand elements: Rashid Johnson’s mixed-media installation, a gridded metal structure that enmeshes interior and exterior and houses various objects, and a custom-designed, cantilevered 70-foot-long wood and paper lantern spanning the restaurant’s northern length. As the seemingly floating lantern gently gestures towards views of the Hudson River and illuminates those who work and gather underneath, Johnson’s new site-specific installation is strategically positioned to create a porous, dynamic threshold that grants visitors an immediate, visceral art experience.

Photos by Adrian Gaut