Creating additional space for the Morgan Library in the heart of Manhattan was a particular challenge. This elegant group of buildings, a ‘village of memory’ is surrounded by the dense urban fabric of New York City, a seemingly solid physical barrier around the site. Rather than building upwards, Renzo Piano Building Workshop decided to dig downwards into the hard rock to build a sort of underground vault in which to house the library’s rare book collection. With surgical precision, new steel and glass units were inserted in and amongst the existing buildings.
Photography: Michel  Dance
The Morgan Library required new public spaces, safe and organized storage areas for the collection itself, an auditorium for chamber music, and a new reading room, all whilst preserving the Library’s original classified buildings: the McKim’s building (1906), the Annex (1928), and the brownstone Morgan House at 231 Madison Avenue, former home of the Morgan family. The requested total expansion of nearly 10,000 sqm within the tight confines of the site was achieved by taking the site back to its original three buildings and recovering additional space underground, excavating to a depth of 17m. Photography: Michel  Dance
RPBW designed three new pavilions connected to the historic buildings, leaving a large open ‘plaza’ at the center of the Morgan complex that could be used for public functions and as a metaphorical breathing space for visitor...