Revamped and re-invigorated, the world's most prestigious modern art gallery welcomes the public to its 125,000 square foot extension.

New York's Museum of Modern Art reopens its doors to the public on Saturday after being closed for two and a half years while it underwent a $858 million (拢462 million) expansion. Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi's design gives the museum 50% more gallery space, an enlarged sculpture garden and a special, column-free exhibition area, to allow the museum to showcase the biggest pieces of modern art created.

The competition to expand the museum was the first international commission that Taniguchi won. He has created two strikingly different fa莽ades for the north and south sides of the building: along 54th Street there is a black granite, aluminium and glass fa莽ade, while on the south side, along 53rd Street, he has preserved the original Johnson, Goodwin, Stone and Pelli structure.