Museums and Libraries: The Latest Architecture and News

Movements and gestures of dancers are full of expression and tension. Dancers bring the fascinated viewer into an internal world of experience and emotion through the swinging movement of their hips, decorative arrangement of their fingers and smooth vibration of the ornamental frills. Rhythmic and dynamic music transmits the spectator into a world of incredible aesthetic feelings awakening all senses and inflaming the imagination. This is how architecture dedicated to the culture of feisty flamenco should look like as demonstrated in the proposal by MUS Architects. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The architecture of the Museum of Fromelles, designed by SERERO Architectes, is aiming at establishing a link between sky and earth, between visitors and the “burial” of soldiers. This is a building with a low profile, which is half-sunk on its northeast facade. The work on natural topography has helped to improve the natural slope of the site and cover, partially, the technical space of the museum. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architects: Studio 8 1/2 Location: Plovdiv, Bulgaria Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Courtesy of Studio 8 1/2

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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.