Here is a sentence you never want associated with an $82 million architectural project: "Is that... packing tape?"
According to a deep-dive by Curbed, the New Museum's long-awaited expansion - designed by the globally celebrated firm OMA and a full decade in the making - arrived with some finishing touches that were, let's say, less Pritzker Prize and more 'we're moving to a new apartment on Sunday.'
A decade, $82 million, and some questions
OMA is not your average architecture firm. These are the people clients hire when they want a building that makes other buildings feel insecure about themselves. So when the New Museum tapped them for a major expansion, expectations were appropriately stratospheric.
Then came the construction process. Then came the delays. Then came the budget - $82 million, which is a number that really should preclude any involvement from office supply stores.
Curbed's report zeroes in on the kind of details that make architects wince into their coffee: visible imperfections, shoddy finishes, and yes, what appears to be packing tape doing structural-ish work on a railing. The headline practically writes itself - and someone did title their piece "They put the B-team on the new museum," which is either very funny or extremely damning depending on where you sit in the construction chain.
Who dropped the ball?
This is where it gets genuinely interesting, because the gap between a design and its execution is where architectural dreams go to negotiate with reality. OMA can render a stunning vision. But what actually gets built is a handshake deal between architects, contractors, budgets, timelines, and approximately ten thousand other variables that don't care about your concept drawings.
The contractor on the project was Sciame Construction - a name that will now be forever Google-adjacent to the phrase "packing tape railing" - and figuring out exactly where the finger of blame should point is the kind of thing that keeps architecture journalists and lawyers equally busy.
Why this actually matters
Museums are not just buildings. They are civic statements. They say something about how a city values culture, craft, and public space. When one arrives with the aesthetic integrity of a hastily packed moving box, it's not just embarrassing - it's a signal that somewhere in the process, the standards slipped and nobody caught it in time.
Or, someone caught it, looked at the budget spreadsheet, looked at the tape, and made a call.
For the full, delightfully mortifying breakdown, Curbed's original report is essential reading for anyone who has ever cared about architecture, accountability, or the sheer audacity of packing tape.
