Museum of Chinese in America, 2009
215 Centre Street, New York, NY

Associate Architect: Bialosky + Partners Architects
Structural Engineer: Silman Associates
Exhibition Designers: MGMT. Design, Matter Design
Photography: Ngoc Minh Ngo

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) occupies a 12,500 sq ft space that spans the block between Centre and Lafayette Streets in the Chinatown area of New York City. Situated in lower Manhattan, it bridges the cultural divide between traditional Chinatown and the contemporary art worlds of SoHo and NoLIta. MOCA’s home symbolizes institutional growth from its roots as the local Chinatown History Project to its expanding identity as the country’s preeminent national Chinese American history museum.

The dual street frontage of the space affords MOCA a unique opportunity to create two distinct access points, or “windows,” to the museum. The main entrance is located on Centre Street, with a façade of wood, concrete, and bronze that offers an elegant and stunningly beautiful street presence. The permanent exhibition circles around an existing inner courtyard left deliberately untouched, creating a tension between old and new and revealing a chronological history of Chinese Americans from the 1800s to the present day. There are six openings into the courtyard, in which are projected different stories and faces of Chinese immigrants, giving viewers a glimpse of the immigration experience through time as they descend to the lower level.

A second entrance, on Lafayette Street, reveals a different yet equally engaging facet of MOCA’s identity. This frontage opens up into a studio space designed to support MOCA’s range of programs, including films, readings, performances, workshops, educational presentations, and oral history projects. This space leads down to the lower-level offices and auditorium.

Related Press:

• Rothstein, Edward. Reopened Museum Tells Chinese-American Stories. The New York Times (September 21, 2009)