MoMA Conservation Department

This slideshow is part of: Samuel Anderson

MoMA requested a transformative facility for its art-conservation department, to be constructed concurrently with the Yoshio Taniguchi Expansion. The program included specific requirements for each discipline (paintings, sculpture, photography/works on paper, and conservation science) along with a departmental library and conference room. The fundamental goals: a scheme that would foster intra-departmental collaboration and tailored spaces for versatile examinations and treatments, and ample north light.

The MoMA Conservation Department has become a touchstone for other institutions planning new labs. Diffused northern light floods the large ninth-floor treatment spaces. X-radiography, photography and spray-painting share a specially designed room, and the fourth-floor paper and photography lab is a model of efficiency and light. Treatment tables, taborets, and other custom furniture are tailored to each discipline. Ample storage for art, tools, equipment, treatment files, and supplies is seamlessly integrated into the whole.

Photographer: Paul Warchol

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.