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Read the press release here.

New Met Breuer Building Will Feature Modern Art, a Book Bar and Restaurant

By Shaye Weaver | August 28, 2015 11:44am | Updated on August 31, 2015 8:36am
 The Met Breuer will open to the public in March 2016 after renovation.
The Met Breuer will open to the public in March 2016 after renovation.
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Ed Lederman

UPPER EAST SIDE — The Metropolitan Museum of Art revealed plans for its newest building, the Met Breuer on Madison Avenue, featuring a book bar, restaurant and a garden.

The building, which was designed by Marcel Breuer for the Whitney Museum in the 1960s, is now leased by the Met, which took over the building after the Whitney moved out in 2014.

It will undergo an upgrade this winter to prepare for the Met's first exhibition there in March 2016, museum officials said in a press release.

In addition to structural improvements to restore the building's concrete walls, stone floors, bronze fixtures and lighting, a book bar featuring a curated selection of art books will be put near the admissions desk.

The building's lower level will include a restaurant and entry to a garden, according to the Met.

“Our approach to inhabiting and interpreting the building honors Breuer’s intent for the space, highlighting its unique character as an environment for the presentation of modern and contemporary art," said Thomas Campbell, the director and CEO of the Met.

"The wonderfully scaled galleries and interior spaces of The Met Breuer provide a range of opportunities to present our modern and contemporary program, in addition to our galleries in the Fifth Avenue building.”

Contemporary art will be spread throughout the building, from the lobby to the fourth floor, starting with Vijay Iyer's performance art on the lobby floor, which will be free to view.

Other inaugural exhibitions will feature Indian modernist Nasreen Mohamedi, a presentation of Diane Arbus’s early photography and a retrospective in honor of artist Kerry James Marshall.

Those who want see the space in transition, before it officially opens in 2016, can get in during the TEDxMet conference on Sept. 26.