Dia Outlines Plan for Building in Chelsea After the Dia Art Foundation announced plans to build on the footprint of one of its previous exhibition sites in Chelsea - giving it a major presence in New York for the first time since 2004 - Dia went quiet. That was in November 2009. It turns out Dia's board and its director, Philippe Vergne, were plotting their next big step. Almost a year ago, after years of negotiations, Dia bought the former Alcamo Marble building at 541 West 22nd Street in Chelsea for $11.5 million. The purchase was a coup for Dia because that building sits between its former space at No. 545, and its existing six-story building at No. With this additional site Dia can build a substantial 22,000-square-foot Manhattan home. In 2004 Dia closed its two Chelsea galleries (its main operations were across the street at 548 West 22nd Street), saying it had outgrown the buildings. Dia rented one of them to the Pace Gallery with a lease that ends in June. For a design, Mr. Vergne said he traveled around the world looking at the work of many architects. Then he chose someone close to home: Roger Duffy, a partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The new Dia will include 15,670 square feet of gallery space and 3,625 square feet of rooftop for outdoor exhibitions like Dan Graham's "Rooftop Urban Park Project," a 1991 architectural pavilion fashioned from two-way mirrored glass that was originally installed on the roof of No. Plans call for creating a single building with a masonry-and-glass facade along the north side of West 22nd Street. It will consist of the one-story structure at what is now No. 545; a three-story building that will be erected on the site of the marble works at No. 541, and the ground floor of No. The other five floors of that building will be used for administrative offices or leased to commercial galleries. The new development ends years of dashed dreams and setbacks. Initially the foundation planned to open a museum at the south entrance to the High Line, but the board scrapped that project in 2006 after its longtime director, Michael Govan, left to oversee the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and its board chairman and biggest benefactor, Leonard Riggio, withdrew his support. The Whitney Museum of American Art is now building its downtown home on that site. Dia also runs a popular outpost along the Hudson River in Beacon, N.Y, where it keeps its permanent collection - primarily works from the 1960s to the present - and presents exhibitions and performances. It also oversees several site-specific art installations, including three works by Walter De Maria: "The New York Earth Room" and "Broken Kilometer," both in SoHo, and "The Lightning Field," in New Mexico; and untitled work by Dan Flavin in Bridgehampton, N.Y. But with no home of its own in Manhattan, it seemed to be stagnating, especially compared with program-packed art museums, galleries and foundations all over the city. "The quiet years," is how Mr. Vergne described these last few. It was a time to put the pieces together. He declined to say how much the new building is expected to cost or how much money has been raised toward the project. "We want to make sure that 22nd Street will re-engage with new generations of artists," he said, "but in keeping with the spirit of Dia." Mr. Vergne said his plan for Dia at its new home is not so different from that of the institution's early vision. Founded in 1974, Dia first patronized a group of artists that included Donald Judd, Mr. Flavin, John Chamberlain and Mr. De Maria. But it wasn't a conventional museum, nor did it have a comprehensive collection. Rather it was a place that reflected the idiosyncrasies of its founders, the German-born art dealer Heiner Friedrich; Mr. Friedrich's wife, Philippa de Menil; and their associate, Helen Winkler. Dia became known for presenting shows by Minimalist painters like Robert Ryman and Blinky Palermo that remained on view for months or even a year. Long-term projects and exhibitions will continue but in a 21st-century context. Mr. Vergne said he planned to make the Manhattan building a place where the work of one artist would be highlighted for a year. "It will be mostly living artists," he said. We could have changing exhibitions by that artist, or the artist could invite other artists, even, say, a musician, to create projects together. Construction is expected to start in the spring of 2014, and if all goes as planned, the building will open in late 2016 or early 2017. Art as interactive sport has never been more popular. Tomás Saraceno's "Cloud City," a dizzying multipolygonal funhouselike habitat of reflective stainless steel and acrylic that the public can climb while it sits on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, attracted more than 18,000 visitors last Friday through Sunday, making it the biggest draw at the museum during the weekend's spell of perfect weather. Late last week the Japanese Conceptual artist Tatzu Nishi arrived in New York from his home in Berlin to talk about another such experiential project with Nicholas Baume, director of the Public Art Fund, the nonprofit organization that presents art around the city. Knowing that Mr. Nishi's work often involves urban monuments, Mr. Baume had asked him several years ago to come up with some ideas for a project in New York. So for about four days in January 2010 Mr. Nishi visited New York for the first time and walked around, studying all the monuments he could find. What caught his eye was not what anyone expected. It was the statue of Christopher Columbus by the Italian sculptor Gaetano Russo that sits atop a column in the middle of Columbus Circle in Manhattan. "Columbus discovered America, so I thought it was particularly appropriate," Mr. Nishi said through a translator. In Japan we don't have many statues displayed in public places except Buddha. From Sept. 20 through Nov. 18 Mr. Nishi will temporarily transform Columbus Circle into a contemporary art installation by sheathing it in metal scaffolding. On the top will be an enclosed space furnished like a living room with a sofa, lamps, coffee table and television. The installation will also feature custom wallpaper with pop-culture images. Visitors will be able to climb six flights of stairs within the scaffolding to the living room nestled on top. As part of the project the Public Art Fund is paying for the restoration of the statue, which has barely been touched in 20 years. It was unveiled in 1892 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's first voyage to the Americas. Mr. Baume estimated that about 100,000 people - 25 at a time - would climb up the scaffolding during the installation's eight-week run. Although it is free, timed tickets will be required and available on the Public Art Fund's Web site and at a kiosk inside the nearby Time Warner Center. Mr. Baume said he was expecting Mr. Nishi to select a more obvious monument - say, Bethesda Fountain in Central Park - but when he heard the choice was Columbus, he said: "It struck me as brilliant. It's so prominent yet so unknown.