The project for the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York would essentially double the area of the current museum, which presently exists in an iconic Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue. The site of the expansion includes the Breuer building and the adjacent Whitney owned brownstones, that lie directly to the south. These brownstones are located in a historic district, and are under the protective jurisdiction of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The directive given to OMA was that the Landmarks Commission would not permit the demolition of the brownstones, but to note that there are recent modern museum additions where the perceived virtuosity of the proposal outweighed the loss of the historic, thereby permitting demolition. The subtext: make a proposal so brilliant that the Landmarks Commission will allow the buildings to be torn down.