New Museums: Intentions, Expectations, Challenges

What is the role of the museum in society today? In this time of fundamental economic and social change, should museums be safe civic spaces or open a floor for challenge and change? Can museums contribute to the economic development of communities? If so, how best to guard against the effects of gentrification so that they do not further limit opportunity for low-income residents? How should museums respond to concerns about environmental sustainability? These are just a few of the questions museum professionals, planners, and architects must carefully consider when developing plans and choosing a location for a new museum.

New Museums explores these questions by talking to the people behind twenty different museums on six continents, both realized projects and speculative design proposals. Among the museums discussed in the book are the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, by Adjaye Associates; the Guggenheim Helsinki by Moreau Kusunoki Architectes; the Comic and Animation Museum in Hangzhou by MVRDV; the Munch Museum in Oslo by Estudio Herreros, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town by Heatherwick Studio; the Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai by Atelier Deshaus; and the recent extension of the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney by SANAA. With more than 250 color illustrations and contributions by leading museum and architecture experts, the book sheds light on current trends and the state-of-the-art technological advances in architecture, while also providing insight into the careful thought and decision processes that go into the development of new museums.