MoMA's New Education Wing: A Kinder, Gentler Taniguchi

MoMA's new Archive Reading Room, with a view of St. Thomas Church © 2006 Timothy Hursley

From the fleeting impressions I got during yesterday's brief press tour of the public spaces in the Museum of Modern Art's new Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building, it appears that architect Yoshio Taniguchi's design concepts for MoMA work better here, on a more human scale, than they do in the monumental gallery building that opened two years ago. The less cavernous atrium of the education wing echoes the prior wing's vocabulary of white slabs, interrupted by glass-walled overlooks, staggered at different levels. But here, it comes off as visually interesting, instead of oppressively intimidating.

The education wing boasts what the gallery wing was originally supposed to have but didn't: abundant natural light and breathtaking views of the sculpture garden, unimpeded by fritted or extremely darkened glass or by overhangs from lower-level canopies that frustratingly obstruct so many of the views from the gallery wing. The reading rooms feel so invitingly scholar-friendly that I can't wait to do some of the preliminary research on the book that I'm thinking of writing, for which I will need to troll MoMA's archives.

There was one embarrassing glitch on the press tour: I was in director Glenn Lowry's group, and our merry band had to disband from the elevator, which beeped and refused to move, despite the departure of a few volunteers who significantly lightened its load (maximum: 5,000 pounds). Betraying not a bit of the annoyance he must have felt, Glenn cheerfully led us down the decidedly unglamorous fire stairs.

This prompted me to ask Arash Yaghoubi, who was on hand as a representative of Structure Tone, the general contractor, whether there had been many glitches during the construction of the education building. He surprised me by launching into what was apparently going to be a detailed recital of the many construction complications, which was soon overheard by a representative of Kohn Pederson Fox, the executive architects. In a few moments, we were intercepted by PR people, who spirited away the young and imprudent Yaghoubi.

From this I surmise that the cause of two-year delay in completing the education wing, which was supposed to have opened simultaneously with the gallery wing, may have been more than the official explanation: slowdowns in fundraising and the decreased availability of construction personnel, caused by 9/11.

Incidentally, I now perceive that museums are probably way ahead of me when it comes to resourcefulness in fundraising: Yesterday I suggested that museums should allow donors to make online gifts, as is being done in Philadelphia's save-the-Eakins campaign. I now see that MoMA (and probably lots of other institutions) already does this, in connection with its capital campaign.