Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum To Re-open December 12

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum re-opens Friday, December 12, after a three-year multimillion-dollar renovation.

Housed in Andrew Carnegie’s former home, the museum is chock-full of hands-on and interactive electronic exhibits, covering four floors and 17,000 square feet—60% more available space than before. Dedicated to historic and contemporary design, the Cooper Hewitt features family-friendly programs where young children, students, and teens can learn about design and the design process.

Completed in 1902 but opened as a Smithsonian design museum in 1967, this marks the first time the entire house has been accessible to the public. As part of the $91 million renovation, the mansion was connected to two nearby townhouses on the museum campus; woodwork was cleaned up, artwork was restored, floors were replaced, walls were opened, and federal ADA-accessibility was added. That said, rooms in the mansion look largely as they might have back when the steel magnate engineered one of the first prototypes of air conditioning—pushing air through damp cheesecloth to cool the mansion.

The museum’s gardens are scheduled to open in the spring.

The ground floor includes a hands-on process lab in Carnegie’s former reception room. The music room, designed by Carnegie’s wife, Louise, contains items selected by author, illustrator and designer Maira Kalman. In the former dining and breakfast rooms, the “Beautiful Users” exhibit is dedicated to user-centric design over the past 50 years, complete with 1970s era telephones that invite visitors to “please handle.” It ends April 26.

The second floor, where the Carnegie bedrooms and nursery were housed, is open to the public for the first time. It features articles from museum’s permanent exhibit—such as birdcages, textiles and model staircases—along with a prototypes and models gallery and additional interactive exhibits in “Making Design.” The intimate Teak Room, made of the exotic wood, is filled with Indian fabric, jewelry and other art.

On the top floor (formerly the servants’ quarters), “Tools: Extending our Reach” features 175 objects dating from the Paleolithic period to a live feed of the sun transmitted by an orbiting satellite. “Tools” runs through May 25. There’s also a mobile-type installation of tools that alone is worth the price of admission.

A café (with a greenmarket-inspired menu) and entrance to the garden are in the basement.

The museum also offers a variety of student and family programs. DesignKids introduces children 2-12 and their caregivers to design activities, open play, hands-on design workshops, and Design Tales, where literacy and design thinking merge.

For teens, DesignPrep offers free, in-depth education programs; DesignPrep Scholars extends DesignPrep through additional activities including workshops, portfolio reviews, resume writing and summer workshops. The Teen Design Fair invites NYC teens to learn about careers from design professionals.

Admission is $18 for adults, $12 for seniors, $9 for students and free for visitors 18 and younger. The museum is open Sunday to Friday from 10 to 6; Saturday it’s open from 10 till 9. Pay-what-you-wish admission is Saturday from 6 to 9 PM. The address is 2 East 91^st Street at Fifth Avenue.

Hillary Chura blogs, reports and tweets for New York Family. Follow her @hillarychura.