The future permanent home for the Whitney Independent Study Program (ISP) at Roy Lichtenstein Studio (RLS) will provide a communal setting for post-graduates in art practice, curatorial studies and critical theory. Bequeathed to the Whitney Museum in 2022 by Dorothy Lichtenstein, the 10,000-SF former factory building located in the Greenwich Village Historic District, four blocks south of the Whitney, will be renovated and adapted to accommodate 14 artist studios, a seminar room, and spaces for study and collaboration. A rooftop addition will house a visiting artist studio and apartment.

The addition follows the legacy of artists’ adaptive re-use of industrial buildings in Greenwich Village. Foregrounding the existing former factory building, the recessed brick façade of the third-floor addition brings symmetry to the structural and programmatic organization of the mixed industrial and residential-use building. The addition and renovation integrate the existing green roof and terrace as an outdoor urban room, central to the informal social and intellectual setting of the program.