Editing Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (section)

=== Interior ===
The core part of Guggenheim's interior consists of the monitor section to the north, the larger main gallery to the south and a lecture hall beneath the main gallery.<ref>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=35–36}}</ref><ref name=AR186>{{harvnb|Architectural Record|1958|ps=.|p=186}}</ref> To the east of the main entrance is the bookstore, in the area that was originally part of the museum's driveway.<ref name="NYCLint12-NPS7">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|p=12}}; {{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=7}}</ref> To the south of the main entrance is a small circular vestibule, which contains a floor with metal arcs and a low plaster ceiling with recessed lighting.<ref name=NYCLint12>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|ps=.|p=12}}</ref> South of the main rotunda is a cafe, added during the 1990s renovation.<ref name=Pfeiffer37/><ref name=NPS7/>

The triangular service core, at the northeast corner of the main gallery, contains an elevator and a staircase.<ref name=NPS3/><ref name=McCarter315>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=315|ps=.}}</ref> The staircase wraps around the elevator, which is housed within a semicircular shaft;<ref name=McCarter315/><ref name=AR188>{{harvnb|Architectural Record|1958|ps=.|p=188}}</ref> the core also contains restrooms and mechanical areas.<ref name=AR188/> According to author Robert McCarter, Wright had used "complete geometries" for the stairs and ramps because he wanted visitors to experience the museum on foot.<ref name=McCarter315/> Other rooms, such as the staff kitchen, were designed with curved equipment because of the interior's unusual design.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 15, 1961 |title=Museum Kitchen Built on a Curve; Designer Coped With Spiral Plan of Guggenheim in Installing Equipment |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/01/15/archives/museum-kitchen-built-on-a-curve-designer-coped-with-spiral-plan-of.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The museum's interior is generally painted white, and parts of the interior are repainted nearly every day.<ref name=Waldek2019/>

==== Main gallery ====
[[File:Solomon-R-Guggenheim-Museum-Levels.jpg|thumb|287px|left|The museum's main gallery]]
Wright designed the main gallery (also described as a rotunda) as an open-air atrium, surrounded by a helical ramp.<ref name=time/><ref name="NYCLint12-NPS4">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|p=12}}; {{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=4}}</ref> Wright's design differed from the conventional approach to museum layout, in which visitors pass through a series of interconnected rooms and retrace their steps when exiting.{{sfn|Levine|1996|p=340}} Under Wright's plan, guests rode an elevator to the top of the building and descended the ramp, viewing the main gallery itself as a work of art.<ref name=ArchDaily/><ref name=McCarter315/> The ramp's design recalled a [[nautilus]] shell, with continuous spaces flowing one into another.{{sfn|Levine|1996|p=301}}<ref>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|pp=310–311|ps=.}}</ref> The open rotunda allows guests to observe works on different levels simultaneously and interact with guests on other levels.<ref name=ArchDaily/> Structurally, the ramp acts like an enormous arch, preventing the columns in the main gallery from collapsing inward.<ref name=AR190/>

The main gallery has a beige terrazzo floor with inlaid metal circles.<ref name="McCarter pp. 315, 318"/><ref name=NYCLint13/> At ground level are wooden information and admissions desks, and windows face southeast toward Fifth Avenue and 88th Street.<ref name=NYCLint13>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|ps=.|p=13}}</ref> The ramp, made of [[reinforced concrete]], ascends at a 5 percent slope<ref name=Stern816/><ref name=NPS4/> from ground level and rises one story, where it wraps around a planter and passes through a double-height archway.<ref name=NYCLint13/> It rises five additional stories before ending at the sixth floor,<ref name=Stern816/><ref name="NYCLint13-NPS4">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|p=13}}; {{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=4}}</ref> with a total length of {{convert|1416|ft}}.<ref name=Waldek2019/> Its width increases as it ascends,<ref name=AR185>{{harvnb|Architectural Record|1958|ps=.|p=185}}</ref> from {{convert|25|ft}} on the lowest level to {{convert|32|ft}} at the top.<ref name=NPS4/> The ramp protrudes into the northeastern corner of the atrium at each story, forming a rounded balcony.<ref name=NYCLint12/> There are connections to other galleries at the second and fourth stories, and to a triangular gallery at the sixth story.<ref name=NYCLint13/> The ramp has a low parapet along the atrium side,<ref name=McCarter318>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=318|ps=.}}</ref> measuring {{Convert|36|in}} high.<ref name=Waldek2019/>

The walls and ceilings are made of plaster.<ref name=NYCLint13/><ref name="McCarter318" /> To create the concrete walls, workers sprayed several layers of concrete onto plywood moldings, each layer being reinforced with steel.<ref name=NPS4/><ref name="Cohen 1958"/> Wright intended the low ceilings and slanted walls to provide a "more intimate environment" to display the artwork.<ref name=Pfeiffer7>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|p=7}}</ref> The walls are tilted at a 97-degree angle, and the ceilings measure {{Convert|9.5|ft}} tall.<ref name=Stern811/><ref name=NPS4/> [[Jaroslav Josef Polívka]] assisted Wright with the structural design, and he initially designed the gallery ramp without perimeter columns.<ref>[[Jaroslav Josef Polívka|Jaroslav J. Polívka]], "What it's Like to Work with Wright" in {{cite book |title=Engineering the Organic: The Partnership of Jaroslav J. Polivka and Frank Lloyd Wright |publisher=State University of New York |year=2000 |editor=Tejada, Susana |location=Buffalo |pages=34–35}}</ref> Later in the design, Wright added a dozen concrete ribs along the walls of the main gallery, which both provide structural reinforcement and divide the ramp into sections.<ref name="NYCLint12-NPS4" /><ref name=McCarter312>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=312|ps=.}}</ref> The ramp passes through 70 sections in total.<ref name=NPS4/> Although Wright wanted the paintings displayed as if they were on an easel,<ref name=time/><ref name=AR185/> paintings are mounted onto horizontal bars that protrude from the sloped wall.<ref name=Stern818>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=818}}</ref><ref name="Wood 1959">{{cite news |last=Wood |first=Francis |date=October 21, 1959 |title=Art Is Given a New Look At Guggenheim Museum |page=1 |work=Newsday |id={{ProQuest|898250168}}}}</ref> There is limited space for sculptures within each bay,<ref name=time/> and wider paintings frequently span the center of the curved wall.<ref name="nyt-1977-06-02">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=June 2, 1977 |title=Design Notebook |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/02/archives/design-notebook-a-possible-truce-at-the-guggenheim.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The ramp was originally illuminated by [[clerestory]] windows along the perimeter of each level,<ref name=McCarter312/> which were sealed when the building was completed.<ref name=McCarter315/><ref name=Stern818/> Each level of the ramp also contains recessed lighting on its ceiling.<ref name=McCarter315/><ref name=NYCLint12/> The domed skylight, named the Lawson-Johnston Family Oculus,<ref>{{cite press release |title=Guggenheim Museum Announces Naming of the Oculus, the Iconic Skylight over the Museum's Open Rotunda |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |date=June 22, 2023 |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/press-release/guggenheim-museum-announces-naming-of-the-oculus-the-iconic-skylight-over-the-museums-open-rotunda |access-date=September 21, 2023}}</ref> is around {{convert|95|ft}} high<ref name="Wood 1959" /><ref name="Mark 1959">{{Cite magazine |last=Mark |first=Phyllis |date=November 9, 1959 |title=Conflict Between Form and Function In Wright's New Guggenheim Museum |volume=42 |issue=41 |page=27 |id={{proQuest|1308964071}} |magazine=New Leader}}</ref> and is the same width as the atrium.<ref name=McCarter311/> Metal bars divide the skylight into numerous panes. Along the dome are six hairpin-shaped "spokes", which surround a circular glass panel and connect with the "ribs" along the gallery's perimeter.<ref name="NYCLint12" /><ref>{{cite magazine |date=Jul 1959 |title=Guggenheim Museum Spirals Toward Completion |url=https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1959-07.pdf |magazine=Progressive Architecture |volume=40 |page= |pages=75, 77}}</ref> These spokes divide the skylight into twelve sections.<ref name=McCarter312/><ref name=NYCLint12/> The original plans called for the dome to be illuminated by 24 floodlights.<ref name="Cohen 1958"/> The clerestory windows and skylight were restored in 1992.<ref name=Sennott572/><ref name=McCarter319>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=319|ps=.}}</ref>

==== Monitor section ====
The museum's "monitor" houses the Thannhauser Collection.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wright's Living Organism: The Evolution of the Guggenheim Museum |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |date=October 3, 2022 |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/blogs/checklist/wrights-living-organism-the-evolution-of-the-guggenheim-museum |access-date=October 3, 2022}}</ref> Its galleries surround an atrium that is circular except for a stair hall at one end of the space.<ref name=NYCLint13/> The floors are supported by columns with lozenge-shaped cross-sections.<ref name=NYCLint13 /><ref name=AR189>{{harvnb|Architectural Record|1958|ps=.|p=189}}</ref> Like the main gallery, the monitor contains a triangular service core, although its core is placed at the center of the structure.<ref name=AR189/> The monitor was originally supposed to include apartments for Rebay and Guggenheim, but this area became offices and storage space.{{sfn|Levine|1996|p=317}} In 1965, the second floor of the monitor was renovated to display some of the museum's growing permanent collection.<ref name=NPS6/>{{sfn|Ballon|2009|pp=59–61}} Part of the fourth floor was similarly converted in 1980.<ref name=NPS6/> With the restoration of the museum in the early 1990s, the second through fourth floors were converted entirely to exhibition space and renamed the Thannhauser Building.<ref name=Pfeiffer37/><ref name=NPS6/>{{sfn|Ballon|2009|pp=59–61}}

==== Gail May Engelberg Center for Arts Education ====
[[File:Gugenheim theater from back jeh.jpg|thumb|Peter B. Lewis Theater]]
The Gail May Engelberg Center for Arts Education, completed in 2001, covers {{convert|8200|sqft}} on the lower level of the museum, below the main gallery.<ref name=Tu2002/> It was a gift of the [[Mortimer Sackler|Mortimer D. Sackler]] family and was originally named for them.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weber |first1=Bruce |date=March 31, 2010 |title=Mortimer D. Sackler, Arts Patron, Dies at 93 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/business/01sackler.html?_r=0 |access-date=July 17, 2014 |postscript=none}}; {{cite news |date=December 12, 1995 |title=Museum gets gift for arts education |page=2E |work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |agency=New York Times News Service |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1683&dat=19951212&id=6mkaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6896,926560 |access-date=August 22, 2014 |postscript=none}}; and {{cite web |title=Kim Kanatani Will Occupy Newly Created Gail Engelberg Chair in Education |url=http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/press-release-archive/2001/688-march-12-new-director-of-education |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726183308/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/press-release-archive/2001/688-march-12-new-director-of-education |archive-date=July 26, 2014 |access-date=July 17, 2014 |website=The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation |format=Press release}}</ref> The facility provides classes and lectures about the visual and performing arts and opportunities to interact with the museum's collections and special exhibitions through its labs, exhibition spaces, conference rooms and 266-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater.<ref name=Sackler>[http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/education/sackler-center "Sackler Center for Arts Education"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209061825/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/education/sackler-center|date=February 9, 2014}}, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved March 21, 2012.</ref><ref name=Tu2002/> Following criticism over the Sackler family's involvement in the [[opioid epidemic in the United States]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Small |first=Zachary |date=May 10, 2022 |title=Guggenheim Removes Sackler Name Over Ties to Opioid Crisis |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/10/arts/design/guggenheim-sackler-name-opioids.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=May 10, 2022 |title=Guggenheim Museum Quietly Removes Sackler Name |url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a39957945/guggenheim-museum-removes-sackler-name/ |access-date=October 3, 2022 |website=Town & Country}}</ref> the center was renamed in 2022 for museum trustee Gail May Engelberg,<ref name=Block2022>{{cite web |last=Block |first=Fang |title=The Guggenheim's Center for Arts Education Renamed After a $15 Million Donation |website=Barron's |date=July 21, 2022 |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-guggenheims-center-for-arts-education-renamed-after-a-15-million-donation-01658439391 |access-date=November 19, 2022}}</ref> who along with her husband Alfred Engelberg had donated $15 million to the museum.<ref name=Donnelly2022>{{cite web |last=Donnelly |first=Shannon |title=Palm Beach philanthropy: Gail and Alfred Engelberg commit $15 million to Guggenheim |website=Palm Beach Daily News |date=August 10, 2022 |url=https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/story/news/2022/08/10/gail-may-engelberg-center-arts-education-and-formal-dedication-and-naming-ceremony-take-place-novemb/10214105002/ |access-date=November 19, 2022}}</ref>

The basement space looks out onto a sloped driveway outside the southwest corner of the museum.<ref name=AR186/> The Peter B. Lewis Theater is directly beneath the main gallery and contains two levels of seating: an orchestra level and a balcony. There is a coatroom at the balcony level, separated from the balcony seats by a metal partition. The southeast corner of the orchestra level contains a raised wooden stage. The theater's walls contain embedded piers, as well as semicircular window openings.<ref name="NYCL (Interior) pp. 13–14" /> The plaster ceiling contains recessed [[cove lighting]].<ref name=AR188/><ref name="NYCL (Interior) pp. 13–14">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|ps=.|pp=13–14}}</ref>  When the theater was built, it could be accessed directly from the triangular service core, as well as via the driveway outside the museum.<ref name=AR188/>

==== Annex galleries ====
The 89th Street annex contains {{convert|10290|ft2}} of additional exhibition space.<ref name="McGuigan 1992"/> There are four exhibition galleries with flat walls that are "more appropriate for the display of art".<ref name=ArchDaily/><ref name=GSwebsite/> Each of the gallery levels,<ref name=PA1992Aug>{{cite magazine |date=August 1992 |title=Guggenheim Reopens, Expanded and Renovated |url=https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1992-08.PDF |magazine=Progressive Architecture |volume=73 |pages=13–14}}</ref> are double-height spaces.<ref name=Pfeiffer37/><ref name=NPS8/> A loading dock is below the galleries, while two office stories and a mechanical floor are above.<ref name=PA1992Aug/> A steel-and-glass lobby connects the annex to the monitor's ground level, and ramps and passageways connect with the monitor's three upper stories.<ref name=PA1992Aug/> The annex is linked to the main gallery's stair tower at the fourth, fifth and seventh stories.<ref name=Pfeiffer37/><ref name=NPS8/> It also connects to rooftop terraces above the monitor and main gallery.<ref name="McGuigan 1992" /><ref name=PA1992Aug/>