Museums and Libraries: The Latest Architecture and News

NEW YORK–Although the American Folk Art Museum has avoided dissolution thanks to a cash infusion from trustees and the Ford Foundation, the institution’s ongoing financial troubles raise difficult questions about the relationship between signature architecture and cultural capital.

Beginning this October, get ready to experience museums … lots of them! Whether you’re located in Los Angeles, London, Montreal, Arkansas or New York, check out some exciting exhibits taking place this Fall. “It is a group of seasonal offerings that reflect the state of the profession, to be sure. Credit remains tight for commercial and civic projects, for the most part, which means that there is plenty of time for retrospective analysis — and that completed buildings continue to get outsize attention,” explained Christopher Hawthorne for the LA Times.

Check out the list of museums after the break.

The New Taipei City Museum of Art (NCArt) should propose a new paradigm for celebrating art in Taipei, one that brings lifestyle, art, recreation and education together to celebrate the vibrant cultural identity of the community. The fusion of art with all aspects of one’s daily experience is driven by ideas about the intrinsic relationship between art and life relevant in Taiwan’s popular contemporary culture. The new museum seeks to embody these ideas and provide an iconic venue for the spontaneous unfolding of contemporary life.

Here’s the proposal Zerafa Architecture Studio presented for this project.

PA (Process-based Architecture) Studio shared with us their proposal for New Taipei City Museum of Art, which won an honorable mention. Their design includes a huge cube on an urban plaza. The interior space of this suspended cube is integrated and has not been divided to specified floors as the usual buildings. It consists of several moving galleries where the exterior walls are also good places for displaying the art works. More images and architects’ description after the break.

When we first saw MAD’s Erdos Museum for Inner Mongolia, the renderings teased us with a futuristic blob-like form that was planned for Ordos’ designed, but yet not constructed, urban masterplan. Now, a few years later, the firm is celebrating the museum’s completion and the finished effect of both the form and its materiality can be fully appreciated. MAD shared a video on the finished project with us and we hope you enjoy it!

More info about the project after the break.

Architect: Mecanoo architecten Location: Birmingham, England Photographs: Paul Reynolds, Mecanoo architects

The New Taipei City Museum of Art conceptual design proposal by Yi-Hsiang Chao Architects and Infinite Studio was initiated from a basic question: How does a museum allow the public to experience a seamless fusion between life and art? A museum is usually located at a specific place and carries certain cultural tasks. Corresponding to the competition’s objectivities, is it a dilemma or a contradiction to expect a museum to allow lives happen seamlessly with the architecture? More images and architects’ description after the break.

Ten years since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the National September 11 Memorial was dedicated in a private ceremony with the victims’ families. It was officially opened to the public as of today, September 12th. The opening of the 9/11 Memorial is a first step towards the closing of a long chapter of construction at the World Trade Center site.