Plans have finally been unveiled for Renzo Piano Building Workshop's eagerly awaited design of a new branch for the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York’s Meatpacking District.

The Pritzker Prize-winning Piano's six-floor, 185,000-square-foot building will be situated on Gansevoort Street between West Street and the High Line park, a redevelopment of former elevated railroad tracks currently underway by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The downtown Whitney will include 50,000 square feet of galleries and 15,000 feet of outdoor exhibition space to showcase the museum's collection of 20th and 21st century American art, while also serving as a venue for temporary exhibitions. By comparison, the Whitney's existing 1966 Madison Avenue building, designed by Marcel Breuer, has 32,000 square feet of gallery space.

Outdoor exhibition space will be located in rooftop galleries on various levels of the building, while a cantilevered entrance along Gansevoort Street will shelter a public plaza. "The first big gesture of the design is its cantilevered entrance, which transforms the area outside the building into a large, sheltered space," says Piano. "In this way, beneath the second-story level of the High Line park, the Whitney adds a street-level gathering place of its own. From this public space, visitors will be able to see through the building entrance and a series of large windows on the west side of the building to the Hudson River and beyond."

A special exhibition gallery on the building's third floor will stand as one of the largest free-span exhibition spaces in the city, measuring approximately 17,500 square feet. The facility will also include an education facility, research library, conservation area, multi-use space for film, video, and performing arts, 175-seat theater, study center, restaurant, café, and bookstore. Construction is projected to begin in spring 2009 with an anticipated opening in late 2012.

"The Whitney has always pushed the boundaries by supporting risk-taking artists in the United States and helping them engage with a global community," says Whitney director Adam Weinberg. "On this spectacular site…the new downtown Whitney will put us right where we want to be: poised to reshape the museum experience for the audiences of today and tomorrow."

A rendering of the Downtown Whitney as seen from the south.

Rendering courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop in collaboration with Cooper, Robertson & Partners