In 1974, Werner Schmalenbach, the director of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, invited Breuer to participate in a competition for a museum to house the Nordrhein-Westfalen Collection on the strength of Breuer’s design for the Whitney Museum of American Art. Breuer submitted a model of a sculptural volume lit by skylights containing a theater equipped to project films, galleries for painting and changing exhibitions, administrative offices, accompanied by an underground parking garage. Breuer did not win the competition, but in 1986 Schmalenbach defended Breuer’s original vision for the Whitney to the Landmarks Preservation Commission of New York, hoping that they would reject Michael Graves’ plans for an expansion.