From the exterior the new wing reads as five separate buildings, each building evoking the scale and different forms of traditional New England architecture.
The new wing creates a dramatic public space at the heart of the Peabody Essex Museum campus with a soaring glass roof over a courtyard piazza that will serve as a central gathering place, in the tradition of a New England village green. Walkways radiate from the open space, leading into both new and renovated galleries, and to the new education and public performance centers.