architect candidates, Pritzker Prize winners Herzog & de Meuron were engaged to develop a new building for the site. Construction costs were estimated at $80 million. The original plan Herzog plan called for an $80 million village 62,974 square foot museum consisting of 30 modest, low-slung buildings, The buildings were to resemble the studios of area painters. However, in the Financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the museum dramatically downsized to be less than a third ($26.2 million) of the original budget. The new structure is designed as a gigantic barn 615 feet long and 95 feet wide. It has poured concrete walls. The building's footprint is 34,000 square feet. It has a 6,000 square foot porch as well as educational and multi-purpose spaces. Inside, the single-floor museum is structured in a very simple way, with public functions (such as reception, store, and café) to the west, administrative offices and art handling to the east, and the galleries, arrayed in two parallel bars, on either side of a central hall. There are seven galleries, totaling 7,600 square feet, for the permanent collection, and three for temporary exhibitions. All of the galleries are illuminated by daylight that shifts gradually throughout the day and changes with the seasons. The building which parallels the Montauk Highway to the south and the Long Island Rail Road tracks to the north is said to have been situated so it can catch the "Hamptons light" which is said to be a reason for the area's popularity as an artist colony (its location about a mile from the Atlantic Ocean to the south and two miles from the Little Peconic Bay to the north) It officially opened on November 10, 2012. The first temporary exhibit was by Malcolm Morley who has a home in Bellport, New York. Notable collections William Merritt Chase The Parrish holds the largest public collection of William Merritt Chase (over 40 paintings and works on paper) and an extensive archive, including over 1000 photographs relating to the life and work of the artist, in particular, family photographs of summers spent here on the East End. As portraitist and landscape painter, and as a teacher of art, Chase was unequalled in his day and it was not surprising that when a group of Southampton boosters had the idea of improving the summer resort by establishing an art school, the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art,