The Renzo Piano Building Workshop's new Whitney Museum headquarters is a factory raised above the ground that on one side holds a dialogue with New York and on the other faces onto New Jersey. This monolith weighs 28.000 metric tons but flies because it projects itself upward, letting Gansevoort Street spread out and enter inside it allowing the building to be invaded by the street. This means recognizing the civic value of a place for culture and art, making it a transparent and accessible space, not an elitist one.