North-facing view of The Sweepers by Wang Shugang at the O'Donnell Athenaeum Phase I Museum. Photo: ©Mauricio Rojas, Courtesy of UT Dallas

UT Dallas opens Morphosis-designed Crow Museum of Asian Art

In Richardson, Tex., the University of Texas at Dallas has opened a second location for the Crow Museum of Asian Art—the first of multiple buildings that will be part of a 12-acre cultural district. When completed, the arts and performance complex, called the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum, will include two museums, a performance hall and music building, a grand plaza, and a dedicated parking structure on the Richardson campus.

Museums

Bjarke Ingels' Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art conceived as village of 12 pavilions

The 60,000-sm Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China recently topped out. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the museum is conceived as a village of 12 pavilions, offering a modern interpretation of the elements that have defined the city’s urbanism, architecture, and landscape for centuries.

Cultural Facilities

Baltimore’s National Aquarium opens 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the harbor’s original tidal marsh habitat

The National Aquarium in Baltimore has opened the National Aquarium Harbor Wetland, a 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the Inner Harbor’s original Chesapeake Bay tidal marsh habitat. Located between Piers 3 and 4 on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the $14 million project features more than 32,000 native shrubs and marsh grasses.

Museums

The Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a $110 million expansion

In Tampa, Fla., the Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a 77,904-sf Centennial Expansion project. The museum plans to reach its $110 million fundraising goal by late 2024 or early 2025 and then break ground. Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, and with construction manager The Beck Group, the expansion will redefine the museum’s surrounding site.

Museums

Museums | Jun 17, 2016

Construction begins on new and expanded International Spy Museum in Washington D.C.

The building will have a glass veil that surrounds an enclosed black box, a setup that the museum hopes will add vibrancy to its new L’Enfant Plaza location.

Education Facilities | Jun 1, 2016

Gensler reveals designs for 35-acre AltaSea Campus at the Port of Los Angeles

New and renovated facilities will help researchers, educators, and visitors better understand the ocean.

Museums | May 26, 2016

Napur Architect wins design contest for Budapest’s Museum of Ethnography

The Museum of Ethnography’s new home will be part of a large museum complex in Budapest’s City Park

Rippled façade defines Snøhetta’s San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expansion design

Museums | May 2, 2016

Rippled facade defines Snøhetta’s San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expansion design

The museum will have three times as much gallery space as before, along with a new theater, atrium, and living wall.

Cultural Facilities | Apr 12, 2016

Studio Libeskind designs angular Kurdish museum rich with symbolism

The museum consists of four geometric volumes separated by somber and uplifting divisions.

Museums | Mar 24, 2016

Aquarium of the Pacific unveils whale of a project

Designed by EHDD, the 18,000-sf, whale-shaped Pacific Visions will have gathering spots, galleries, and a theater with a large, curved screen.

Museums | Gensler | Mar 3, 2016

How museums engage visitors in a digital age

Digital technologies are opening up new dimensions of the museum experience and turning passive audiences into active content generators, as Gensler's Marina Bianchi examines.