Community gets a peek at sleek new Bronx Museum.

The Bronx Museum of the Arts recently underwent the first phase of a radical $19 million transformation which museum administrators hope will serve as a cultural focal point for the redevelopment of the diverse Grand Concourse neighborhood.

"The institution is interested in forging a stronger connection to the community although it is first and foremost a contemporary-art museum," said Robert J. Perez, chairman of the museum.

The new building's skin was designed by Arquitectonica, with a unique combination of irregular folded, fritted glass. The deep accordion like crevices of metal and glass allow pedestrians to glimpse into the facility and peer into the 10,000 s/f of expanded space that includes a community gallery, nearly doubling the size of the original museum.

Inside the museum, new galleries rise together with steep solid rock, opening up onto new facilities that include a lobby and educational space. A sleek, exposed lighting system designed by French designer, Herve Descottes, of L'Observatoire, was installed in the museum. The upper gallery opens to a walled-in sculpture garden set more than 30-feet above the Grand Concourse.

The final project will expand to the end of the museum's home on 165th street and will include yet more galleries, classrooms, an auditorium, a children's art center and residential tower. It will complement other major architectural projects in the area, including the $18 billion rebuilding of the Grand Concourse, renovation of the 1929 landmark building Loews Paradise Theatre, a new $325 million glass-and-aluminum courthouse, and a the $800 million Yankee stadium, due to open in 2009.