This conceptual project, a whimsical addition to the existing New Museum designed by SANAA, sought to introduce possibilities for the design of architectural flows of energy via a challenge to the “appearance” of the museum’s white box environment, while at the same time pushing environmental & mechanical design beyond the merely technocratic and into the realm of the poetic.

The museum is re-centered around a grand atrium, with a monumental blue-tarp canvas balloon that serves as a hot air return plenum for both the museum and a subway tunnel below.

Location: New York, NY