The Whitney Downtown presented a construction update to Community Board 2 last night, and things are moving right on schedule for the museum's mid-2015 opening. They shared the above time lapse video, featuring footage from their live construction webcam, which shows the Meatpacking District site's progress from the October 2011 ground breaking to January 14. The building topped out in December, and they've most recently been pouring the concrete floors.
The Whitney's construction site filled with 6.5 million gallons of water during Hurricane Sandy, and they spent four days pumping out the water. Since Sandy obviously wasn't the last storm NYC will ever have, the Whitney's design team has spent the last several months interviewing dozens of flood consultants from around the world to determine how best to protect the building from future flooding. While no decisions have been made, the consultants were tasked with creating solutions that would not significantly change the exterior of the Renzo Piano-designed building.
Some board members also asked how the Whitney will benefit the surrounding neighborhood. The museum has already established a community outreach group called WECAN (Whitney Education Community Advisory Network), and they are working with local artists and organizations. Additionally, the new museum building's lobby, plus the lobby gallery, will be completely free and open to the public, and the museum's theater will likely be rentable to local groups at nonprofit rates.
· Whitney New Building Project [official]
· Whitney Downtown coverage [Curbed]
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