On November 11, the Louvre Abu Dhabi opened on Saadiyat Island, a cultural district off the coast of the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The museum was designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel and is the result of a €1 billion agreement between Abu Dhabi and France.
Centro Botín
In Santander, about 60 miles west of Bilbao on Spain’s north coast, the new Centro Botín opened on Friday, June 23. The waterfront arts center was designed by Renzo Piano as a new regional museum along with the redevelopment of an urban park.
The New SFMOMA
After a three-year expansion and renovation, the new San Francisco Museum of Modern Art opened to the public this weekend. The museum has more than doubled in size and is now the largest modern and contemporary art museum in the US.
Museu do Amanhã
In Rio de Janeiro, the Museu do Amanhã (Museum of Tomorrow) has opened just in time to become, perhaps, the most incredible new museum of 2015. Designed by Santiago Calatrava, the Museu do Amanhã is the showpiece of a redeveloped cultural district.
Guggenheim Helsinki Design Revealed
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has announced that Moreau Kusunoki Architectes is the winner of the Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition. The French architecture firm’s design, Art in the City, is proposed for a site at Eteläsatama on Helsinki’s South Harbor. The Finnish outpost would be the Guggenheim’s fifth museum, and its third in Europe, if it is constructed.
The Broad: Sky-Lit
Last summer we explored designs and plans for The Broad: codylee.co/the-broad.
As the project nears completion, we had an exclusive sneak peek on February 15 in advance of the museum’s September 20 opening.
Harvard Art Museums
It has been a great few weeks – indeed, a great year – for new museum buildings. It gets even better this weekend when the Harvard Art Museums will open a new building. The incredible structure, designed by Renzo Piano, unites Harvard’s three separate museums under a vast glass roof.
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
On October 27, the new museum building for the Fondation Louis Vuitton will open in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. It was designed by the Los Angeles-based starchitect Frank Gehry with the patronage of the French businessman Bernard Arnault.
R4, Île Seguin
In Boulogne-Billancourt, a western suburb of Paris, an island in the Seine is being developed into an “artistic micro-city” designed by Jean Nouvel. The project for Île Seguin will create artists’ studios, commercial gallery and auction spaces, an exhibition hall, and a conference center to transform the island into a modern cultural hub.
Guggenheim Helsinki? Not so fast…
Last month, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Helsinki city officials announced an international design competition for a proposed new museum in the Finnish capital. The Guggenheim proposal has been met with disapproval in Helsinki since 2011, and there is no certainty that the design competition will gain public support for the project.