The future Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA) will be the city's first stand-alone museum, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kéré. In fall 2024, the City of Las Vegas granted LVMA two acres of land in Symphony Park, neighboring the city's downtown arts district, as part of a public-private partnership. The project is intended to serve the city's more than 2.4 million year-round residents, including nearly 300,000 students living within a 10-mile radius of the park, as well as tens of millions of visitors from around the globe. The 60,000-square-foot building was designed by Kéré Architecture, which teamed up with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to provide Las Vegas with "a gathering place for community and a beacon for the cultural world," and is scheduled to open in 2029.
The design draws inspiration from the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas's history of modernist architecture. Its façade features a mosaic of locally sourced stone, wrapping the building in hues that echo the surrounding Red Rock Mountains. A canopy extending beyond the roof is designed to provide a shaded "front porch" for the entry plaza. A signature grand staircase, visible through the entry level's floor-to-ceiling windows, transforms the interior core into a canyon, from which visitors ascend toward galleries that appear to float on the second floor. Additional features include sanctuary-like galleries that reflect the influence of architect Paul Revere Williams's Guardian Angel Cathedral, which has served as a refuge for Las Vegas since 1963, as well as an oasis-like outdoor sculpture plaza.
The building also draws significant inspiration from the baobab trees of the African savanna, which serve as both a design touchpoint and a conceptual through line. As a metaphor for a site of growth and a place to put down roots, the building was described by Heather Harmon, Executive Director of the Las Vegas Museum of Art, as a "community-centered museum design with a keen understanding of the natural environment" surrounding the institution. The project was highlighted for embodying the diversity of Las Vegas by echoing a range of local references, from architecture to landscape.
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Francis Kéré: Get to Know the 2022 Pritzker Winner's Built WorkWe see the Las Vegas Museum of Art as a gathering place where the entire community can recognize itself and take pride in a building that reflects the history and spirit of the city and the beauty of its natural surroundings. Las Vegas is a place of architectural marvels and of a timeless, awe inspiring desert landscape. We hope to create a welcoming, engaging building that reflects both aspects of Las Vegas, restoring the presence of the natural world to the iconic skyline. – Architect Francis Kéré
In fall 2026, the museum will begin operations ahead of the building's completion. The LVMA Gallery and Media Lab, a 15,000-square-foot, multi-use exhibition and public programming space, is set to host a preview of the museum's offerings at a temporary location near the official LVMA site. Planned activities include exhibitions and public programs, a retail storefront, a collaborative workspace, and instructor-led art classes for children, young people, and families. The museum's collection and programming will be enriched by a close relationship with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). As an independent institution, LVMA will benefit from several partnerships to borrow artworks, mount exhibitions, and adapt educational programs from LACMA, drawing on its professional expertise to operate at a high international level.
Kéré Architecture recently broke ground on another museum project in Plüschow, northeast Germany, a wood-and-clay building dedicated to photography and contemporary art. In other news about future museums, Swiss architectural practice Christ & Gantenbein recently won the international competition for the new museum at Kistefos, Norway; Frank Lloyd Wright's Fountainhead Residence was purchased by the Mississippi Museum of Art to become part of the museum's facilities and be made available to the public through guided tours by reservation; and Ma Yansong's Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has announced it will open to the public on September 22, 2026, adding a new cultural institution to Los Angeles's Exposition Park.
