Local design studio New Affiliates has released renderings of Canyon, a museum and cultural venue located in a former commercial building in the Lower East Side that will feature a massive atrium.

Located at Essex Crossing, a cluster of commercial and retail buildings just across the Williamsburg Bridge, Canyon will include a 40,000-square-foot (3,716 square metres) gallery and performing arts venue “hybrid”, housed within a commercial vacancy.

New Affiliates is set to convert a vacant commercial space in the Lower East Side into cultural centre Canyon

“Canyon was conceived as a hybrid between museum, performing arts venue, and the downtown social scene, offering evening-focused hours, deeply considered hospitality, and state-of-the-art technologies to reimagine how audiences experience these forms of art,” said New Affiliates.

The building will include galleries designed for video and audio installations, a 260-seat theatre, and a cafe and restaurant located underneath a soaring atrium.

“Designed to encourage leisurely flow between socializing, and enjoying art, the centrally located bar and cafe will function as a communal hub – an everyday gathering place with the openness of a town square, where visitors can linger, reconnect, and return throughout the evening,” said the studio.

Renderings of the building show a brick facade with wide, tall windows that will bring light into the atrium space, which is pushed off to one side. Projector screens will be distributed throughout for the digital art.

Founded by philanthropist Robert Rosenkranz and helmed by Mass MoCA founding director Joe Thompson, Canyon is set to open in 2026.

“Revitalising Manhattan’s commercial vacancies is both an urgent and stimulating prospect,” said New Affiliates co-founders Ivi Diamantopoulou and Jaffer Kolb.

“We’re working in an unexpected environment full of possibility – the light-filled, soaring central atrium prompts us to imagine how the space could respond to this new evolving program. We’re excited to explore new ways of engaging contemporary art in our largest project to date.”

Exhibitions in development for the project include a retrospective of the Japanese artist and composer Ryoji Ikeda and a show by Serpentine artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Canyon has already partnered with prominent digital arts platform Rhizome for initial programming.

New Affiliates recently built a garden shed using a wall panel castaway from an architectural mock-up and renovated a Bed Stuy loft with plywood and other materials.

The images are by New Affiliates

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