When the Italian American Museum opened at 151 Mulberry Street in October 2024, it marked the culmination of more than two decades of work by founder Joseph V. Scelsa. The new museum — 6,500 square feet across four levels, two of them subterranean — is embedded in the base of the Grand Mulberry, designed by Morris Adjmi Architects at the historic corner of Mulberry and Grand Streets in Little Italy.
JLA's involvement began shortly after the firm's founding in 2019, when Jonathan Scelsa of op.AL reached out for technical support. The brick building envelope and the deliberate recess left for the museum storefront had been designed by Jason's former studio at Morris Adjmi. Scelsa's response to that recess was the oblique cone — a double-height storefront of custom perforated steel panels that transitions from the museum's arching gallery window to meet Adjmi's fenestration grid. JLA made that vision buildable, and as the exterior resolved, the scope expanded to include construction documents and construction administration for the full interior fit-out.
op.AL's design — sweeping curves, compound angles, custom-fabricated assemblies — required exceptional technical precision to execute. Navigating a public assembly occupancy across four stacked levels added a further layer of complexity through the NYC Department of Buildings.
All design credit belongs to Jonathan Scelsa and op.Architecture + Landscape PLLC. JLA served as consulting architect for technical development, construction documents, and construction administration.
