Building Culture

An insider's look at art museums and how they shape the ways we view art, through theeyesof the architects who design them. Architects and art lovers everywhere will enjoy this remarkable collection of interviewsfromsixteenof the world's mostcelebrated, thoughtful, andinnovativearchitects who have designed many of the world's greatest museums. Spanninggenerations, geographies, and methods of architecturalpractice, these architects share the complex and fascinating process of creating spaces forart.Building Cultureincludes interviews with: Frank Gehry,whoreveals how a half-century of dialogue with the visual arts influenced hisrevolutionary GuggenheimBilbao. KulapatYantrasast,who describes his rethinking of exhibition design and how it expandsthe presentation of work in venerable institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art,where he is currently redesigning the galleries for the arts of Africa, Oceania, and theAmericas. Walter Hood,whose long interest in improvisational techniques in music informedhisdesign for outdoor performance spaces in the Oakland Museum. Elizabeth Diller,whose conception of the Shed in New York City's Hudson Yards wasinfluenced by decades of work in conceptual and performance art. Esteemed architects who have designed, renovated, or created galleries for MoMA, theNew Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York; the National Gallery and the Tate Modern in London; the Pérez Art Museum Miami; the CentrePompidou in Paris, the 21st Century Museum ofContemporary Art, Kanazawa in Japan; the Museum of West African Art(currently under construction) in Nigeria; and manyothers. This lively compendium reveals intensely varied architecturalphilosophies from a diverse group of established and up-and-coming professionals. Engaging personal recollections of relationships with artists and curators, along with 80 captivating images, provide further insight into thedesign process and timeless inspiration for architecture students, artists, museum professionals, and anyone fascinated by architectural design, public space, and museum culture.