Culture
Artful Architecture: 10 Museums With Jaw-Dropping Designs
Slide Nr 1Come for the architecture, stay for the art: at these world-class cultural institutions, the artworks and artefacts are only half of the appeal.
[Photo: National Museum of Qatar, Credit: Iwan Baan]
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Artful Architecture: 10 Museums With Jaw-Dropping Designs.
Slide Nr 2Serralves – The shell-pink Serralves Villa, located at Porto’s award-winning Serralves Foundation, is an exemplary specimen of 1930s Art Deco architecture – though its authorship is the centre of some controversy. Names associated with its conception include José Marques da Silva, Charles Siclis and Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, all brought together to realise the vision of Carlos Albert Cabral, the second Count of Vizela. Today it is the site of blockbuster art events and exhibitions by leading lights in contemporary art, architecture and cinema, like Jean-Luc Godard, Nuno Brandão Costa, Franci Alÿs and Kazuyo Sejima, to name but a few.
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Artful Architecture: 10 Museums With Jaw-Dropping Designs.
Slide Nr 3Muzeum Susch – Set against the backdrop of the beautiful Alps, the words “one-of-a-kind” truly resonate at Muzeum Susch. Situated in the town of Susch, Switzerland, the original building dates back as early as 1157, when it was a rural monastery along a prominent pilgrimage route. In 2019, building on nearly 900 years of history, it was resurrected as a contemporary art museum by architects Chasper Schmidlin and Lukas Voellmy. The works shown here, both temporary and permanent (including pieces by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Helen Chadwick and Not Vital), create a dialogue with the remarkable space, where every corner reveals traces of its unique past. Worth a pilgrimage for art and architecture lovers alike.
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Artful Architecture: 10 Museums With Jaw-Dropping Designs.
Slide Nr 4Museo Soumaya – Located at Plaza Carso, an up-and-coming cultural hub in Mexico City, Museo Soumaya commands attention. The sheer number of steel columns and shimmering plates that form the dazzling façade is astounding, drawing the eye and yet also complimenting the ever-changing cityscape. The museum houses the equally grand, genre-spanning private collection of local business magnate Carlos Slim, who named the museum after his late wife; international superstars Da Vinci, Rodin, Dalí, Picasso, Van Gogh and Matisse are shown alongside top Mexican names such as Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo. You might call it a family affair: FR-EE, the architectural firm behind the distinctive construction, is led by Slim’s son-in-law, Fernando Romero Havaux.
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Artful Architecture: 10 Museums With Jaw-Dropping Designs.
Slide Nr 5Royal Ontario Museum – Originally realised in 1914 by Toronto-based duo Frank Darling and John A. Pearson, the architectural vision for the Royal Ontario Museum was a blend of classic Italianate and neo-Romanesque styles. A century later, ‘starchitect’ Daniel Libeskind designed its contemporary add-on: the Lee-Chin ‘Crystal’, an avant-garde structure inspired by the museum’s extensive gem and mineral collection, and which redefined the museum’s visual identity. Though Libeskind’s novel façade initially attracted mixed reviews, it has since become a beloved Toronto landmark. The 18 million artefacts stored in the museum are equally remarkable: the permanent collection spans invaluable cultural objects, natural history specimens and studies of Indigenous nations, while rotating exhibitions illuminate various themes.
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Artful Architecture: 10 Museums With Jaw-Dropping Designs.
Slide Nr 6Zeitz MOCAA – From the 1920s until 1990, a monumental grain silo complex at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, consisting of a large tower and vertical concrete tubes, was used to store corn gathered from all over South Africa. In 2017, it gained a new lease on life as the buzz-worthy Zeitz MOCAA. To create the central atrium, London-based Thomas Heatherwick and his team decided to cut into the existing concrete tubes instead of demolishing them, creating a truly breathtaking and wholly unique space. Boasting 6,000sq m of total exhibition space across 80 gallery areas, Zeitz is the world’s largest museum solely dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora.
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Artful Architecture: 10 Museums With Jaw-Dropping Designs.
Slide Nr 7National Museum of Qatar – In the face of rapid development, the Qatari capital has become a canvas for leading architectural firms, with key new Doha landmarks – from the Qatar National Convention Centre to the Qatar National Library and the Mandarin Oriental hotel – redefining the city’s silhouette. Among them is also the National Museum of Qatar, conceived of by Atelier Jean Nouvel and inspired by ‘desert roses’, a fascinating mineral crystallisation commonly found in the region. The museum was constructed with large, interconnected disks forming a distinctively organic exterior that mirrors this natural desert phenomenon. [Photo: Iwan Baan]
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Artful Architecture: 10 Museums With Jaw-Dropping Designs.
Slide Nr 8Louvre Abu Dhabi – Having debuted in 2017 in the city’s cultural district of Saadiyat Island, Louvre Abu Dhabi is part of a French-Emirati cultural partnership that facilitates art loans from numerous French institutions, including the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and Centre Georges Pompidou. Yet the Jean-Nouvel-designed building that houses the artworks is all that anyone seems to be talking about. Viewing the museum building from afar generates the impression that the entire structure is floating above sea level, a sense that surprisingly increases as one enters the building. Four hidden piers inside the structure create this remarkable visual sensation, accentuated by shadows of ripples reflecting on the white marble walls – making the Louvre Abu Dhabi one of the most memorable museum buildings on the globe.
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Artful Architecture: 10 Museums With Jaw-Dropping Designs.
Slide Nr 9Richard Gilder Center – The remarkable façade of this addition to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City aligns with the institution’s subject while also complementing its Central Park entrance; not only does the design mirror the interconnectedness of the natural world, but it functions as a practical conduit between 10 museum buildings, offering 33 connecting pathways. This sensible extension to the existing buildings has claimed 12 awards since its inauguration in 2023. Meanwhile, the impressive five-storey atrium’s airy archways and larger-than-life skylights enable efficient air circulation and let in natural lighting, helping the museum to meet its ambitious sustainability goals. [Photo: Iwan Baan]
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Artful Architecture: 10 Museums With Jaw-Dropping Designs.
Slide Nr 11Zaishui Art Museum – Perhaps no other museum in the world can carry the term ‘monumental’ as well as the Zaishu Art Museum. Completed in 2023 in the southeastern seaport city of Rizhao, China, this institution has set the art world abuzz – despite lacking a track record of noteworthy exhibitions. The linear-shaped structure, designed by award-winning architect Jun’ya Ishigami, stretches across the entirety of an artificial lake, appearing as if it is gradually emerging from the water’s surface. This initial impression is not misguided, as the glass-panelled sides of the structure are indeed not sealed, allowing the water to cover parts of the floor. It might not provide traditional whitewalls for hanging artworks, but the strikingly minimalist space stands confidently alone – and leaves visitors in awe. [Photo © Arch Exist]
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