Sotheby’s announced that it will redesign and expand its New York galleries, bringing two acres of new exhibition space. The expansion will cost the auction house about US$55m.

Exterior sketch of Sotheby’s New York Headquarters

The new gallery space, which is set to open on 3 May, will be increased from 67,000 square feet to 90,000 square feet. It comprised 40 galleries of varying sizes spread across four floors. The new space can accommodate works of art of any scale – the tallest gallery measures more than 20 feet (about 6 meters) in height, while the smallest gallery is 350 square feet (about 32.5 square meters).

Floor plan of galleries across four floors

The new design will be led by Shohei Shigematsu of the internationally-acclaimed architecture firm OMA New York. Shigematsu said: ‘We wanted to embody Sotheby’s ambition to reinvigorate and enhance the client experience by introducing high-flexibility through reorganization of programs and diversification of gallery spaces.’

New exhibition spaces include:

• Nine galleries for discreet, private sales
• Two new flexible auction spaces
• Three two-story space for largest-scale works
• The Grand Gallery, a 150-foot-long space for showcasing full collections
• The Octagon Gallery, a temple-like space dedicated to intimately-scale objects, like jewellery and watches
• The Enfilade Galleries, a suite of four cascading spaces whose entryways align
• A number of domestically-scaled galleries for furniture, design and collections
• A series of L-shaped galleries for small-scale works and works on paper

Galleries for private sales

One of three 20-foot-high spaces

One of three 20-foot-high spaces

The Octagon Gallery, a temple-like space dedicated to intimately-scale objects, like jewellery and watches

The Enfilade Galleries, a suite of four cascading spaces whose entryways align

The Grand Gallery with a long gallery wall

The unveiling of the reimagined space in May will be accompanied by a public viewing of Sotheby’s Marquee Exhibitions and Auctions of Impressionist & Modern and Contemporary Art. The centrepiece of the Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 16 May is Mark Rothko’s seminal Untitled (1960) from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The painting is estimated at US$35m-50m.

Mark Rothko’s Untitled (1960) from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will be sold at Sotheby's