Guggenheim Museum reportedly planning new space in New York

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York is planning to expand with a new building that would house its art collection and staff, according to a report this week in the Art Newspaper.

The new space would be a multi-purpose building that also would feature space for public programming.

A spokeswoman at the Guggenheim said the museum doesn’t have a comment. The Art Newspaper cited a museum spokeswoman who said that it was too early to provide further details.

The Art Newspaper is reporting that the Guggenheim is planning to research office-friendly designs and that the museum is also considering holding a competition for an architect.

The Guggenheim is currently located on New York’s Upper East Side in a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The building was completed in 1959 and is one of the city’s most famous and photographed structures.

In 2002, museum officials abandoned plans for a downtown New York building designed by Frank Gehry. The building, which had a reported $950-million price tag, would have been located in lower Manhattan, south of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Gehry designed the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, in Spain, which opened in 1997.

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