Studio Museum in Harlem – New York City, USA

In November 2025, the Studio Museum in Harlem opened its new premises on West 125th Street. Designed by Adjaye Associates, the new seven-storey building, with around 7,600 m² of floor space, almost doubles the museum’s previous floor area and provides space for new exhibitions, artists’ studios, and educational and event areas. The museum is thus continuing its development into an internationally significant institution for art by artists of African descent.

On the ground floor, the space known as ‘The Stoop’ forms the public heart of the building. Inspired by Harlem’s characteristic building entrances, this multifunctional space serves as a meeting place and provides space for lectures, performances, film screenings, workshops and other events. Its flexible design allows it to be quickly adapted to different uses.

To ensure this versatility, Gerriets, in collaboration with Adjaye Associates and Fisher Dachs Associates, developed a bespoke system for the acoustic and visual partitioning of the space.

The solution comprises three individually printed, seven-layer acoustic curtains from Gerriets on automated track systems. The installations were precisely adapted to the architecture and measure up to 37.2 × 7.0 m. Each curtain features a graphic motif designed by Adjaye Associates, applied using metallic gold ink.

When closed, the curtains run along specially fabricated, curved tracks and, at the touch of a button, transform the open entrance area into a self-contained event space. At the same time, they darken the two-storey glass façade and create an effective acoustic and visual separation from the adjacent circulation areas.

This allows ‘The Stoop’ to switch flexibly between an open meeting space and an intimate event venue. The project demonstrates how an architectural concept and innovative stage technology combine to form a functional and visually compelling overall solution.