Silver boxes climb into a blue sky; beside them, a plane of glass folds toward the pavement. In Ajay Suresh’s June photograph of the expanded New Museum, the two buildings make an unusually expressive pair. One rises in offset steps. The other introduces a long diagonal. Red brick, fire escapes and a passing garbage truck keep the composition firmly on the Bowery. 1

The museum reopened on March 21, 2026, with a 60,000-square-foot addition. 2 By autumn, there is a particularly good reason to return: the architecture offers a new way to look at the neighborhood, while an exhibition turns the neighborhood itself into the subject. Plan an afternoon with enough slack to look up, double back and eventually sit down.

Two buildings in conversation

SANAA’s original building opened in 2007. The addition is by OMA’s Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas, working with Cooper Robertson. Its laminated-glass facade incorporates metal mesh, picking up a material language from its neighbor while allowing greater transparency. 2 In the photograph, that family resemblance is clear: the surfaces share a silvery register, even as their outlines pull in different directions.

The connection becomes practical inside. Gallery floors align on the second, third and fourth levels, allowing movement between the buildings. A west-facing atrium stair links the expansion’s levels and provides views of the surrounding neighborhood. Facade consultant Front describes a building designed to make visitors’ movement partially visible through its glass and mesh. 3 The route between artworks becomes something to notice in its own right.

Front’s scope included more than twenty facade and roof systems, from inclined and vertical curtain walls to skylights, with laminated metal mesh recurring across them. 3 That complexity invites a closer look at a seemingly simple surface. Follow an edge upward, then watch how the building changes direction. The joints and folds help explain the shape.

For anyone who enjoys architecture, these are useful details to carry through a visit. Look for the moment the route crosses from one building to the other. Notice where a view interrupts the concentration of a gallery. A museum asks for sustained attention, but a glimpse of the city can refresh the eye. The interval deserves a place in the afternoon.

The museum also offers building audio tours for adults and children through its Bloomberg Connects digital guide, with contributions from lead architect Shohei Shigematsu and hosts Chloë Sevigny and Julio Torres. 2 It is an easy way to give the architecture a share of the attention before an exhibition takes over. Open the guide while planning the visit and bring headphones.

Art also occupies the spaces around that route. The museum currently lists Sarah Lucas’s VENUS VICTORIA for the plaza, Tschabalala Self’s Art Lovers on the facade and Klára Hosnedlová’s Shelter in the atrium stair as long-term commissions. 4 Keep those three locations in mind: an approach, an exterior wall and a stair can each become part of the visit.

The street becomes the subject

On view through January 31, 2027, The Bowery: Devil’s Mile gives the afternoon its local thread. 4 The exhibition brings together archival material, historical objects and artworks to trace the street’s changing lives. Its range includes an 1830s hand-pump fire engine and Jacob Riis photographs, alongside work by artists including Nan Goldin, Keith Haring and Eva Hesse. 5

That breadth makes a promising companion to the new construction. The exhibition’s account moves through the Bowery’s histories of entertainment and artistic experimentation, drawing on the museum’s own archive and oral-history research. 5 It offers a reason to take the street seriously at several scales: the individual image, the room where something happened, the address that acquired another use.

There is no need to turn that into a compulsory history lesson. Choose an object or photograph that holds your attention and give it a few extra minutes. Read its label closely. An afternoon can have a center without becoming a checklist, and one well-observed detail often survives longer than a hurried inventory of every gallery.

Leave time to stay

Oberon, the restaurant and bar inside the expansion, offers a natural pause. The museum identifies Ali Ghriskey as executive chef and names ongoing collaborations with Ian Cheng, Minjae Kim and Laurie Anderson across the restaurant’s design, atmosphere and programming. 6 OMA describes the design as an effort to give the restaurant an identity of its own while keeping it connected to the museum. 7 Check its menu and reservations before building lunch or dinner into the plan.

The practical details, checked October 19: the New Museum is at 235 Bowery. It opens at 11 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday, closing at 6 p.m. except on Thursdays, when it stays open until 9 p.m. Mondays are closed. Adult admission is $28; visitors 18 and under enter free. 8

Thursday’s 7–9 p.m. admission is pay what you wish, with tickets reserved online in advance. A limited number may be available onsite, but the museum says those are not guaranteed. 8 For a daylight visit, leave a little room afterward for the Bowery itself. The silver boxes and folded glass will still be there when you emerge, newly familiar against the smaller brick facades. After an afternoon spent looking, the walk can be part of the pleasure.