Whitney Takes the High Line 

Just weeks after the Dia Art Foundation's decision to cancel a planned outpost at the base of the High Line - the disused elevated railroad on Manhattan's west side that the city is converting into a park - the Whitney Museum of American Art signed a conditional agreement to purchase the site for a satellite institution.

The Whitney's expansion into the chic Meatpacking District marks a major change in strategy for the institution.  The museum will forgo its latest attempt, a $200 million tower designed by Renzo Piano that won city approval last summer, in favor of the downtown size.  Piano has been retained as the architect for that building, which according to early estimates will be 200,000 square feet-more than three times the size of the original museum.

This expansion plan not only creates a place that provides for synergy between all the facets of the program, including collection, exhibition, education, conservation, film, performing arts, and new media; but also gives room for museum's growth on a much longer term.