Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano has designed a second Whitney Museum site, which will be located on Gansevoort Street, New York City and is anticipated to open in late 2012. Piano is collaborating with New York-based architectural firm Cooper, Robertson & Partners.

The six floor, 185,000-sq.-ft. building will include approximately 50,000 sq. ft. of galleries, 15,000 sq. ft. of rooftop galleries allowing for outdoor exhibitions, and a special third floor exhibition gallery that will be approximately 17,500 sq. ft., making it one of the largest free-span exhibition spaces in New York.

Amenities will include a restaurant, 175-seat theater, and a state-of-the-art education facility among other spaces. "The first big gesture of the design is its cantilevered entrance, which transforms the area outside the building into a large, sheltered public space," says Piano. "In this way, beneath the second-story level of the High Line park, the Whitney adds a street level gathering place of its own. From this public space, visitors will be able to see through the building entrance and a series of large windows on the west side of the building to the Hudson River and beyond. This is one of several ways in which we respond to this remarkable site, drawing on its vitality and trying to enhance it at the same time."

The Whitney announced a fundraising campaign of $680 million to cover the construction of the new building. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2009.

In November of 2006, the Whitney signed a conditional designation letter with the New York City Economic Development Corporation to acquire the site at Gansevoort and Washington Streets and is in contract negotiations to formalize the land transfer.