Architecture + Art

The new McGlothlin Wing at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond emits an ethereal glow at night. Credit: Travis Fullerton

Talk about innovation. It appears nothing can stop museums when it comes to enlisting world-class architects to redesign their buildings and transform their internationally renowned art collections. This fall, there’s no shortage of mouth-watering museums to visit—and you’ll want to go for the architecture as much as for the art.

First stop? Boston. On Nov. 20, trek to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for its free community day, when the museum unveils its $504 million renovations: the Art of the Americas wing and the Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Family Courtyard, which increase the museum’s footprint by a whopping 28 percent.

Stroll through the courtyard on your way to the Art of the Americas wing. It’s billed as a “light-filled gathering place” for good reason: its spacious 12,184 square feet rise to a 63-foot-high ceiling, and the walls of glass let the art out and the light in.
The Foster + Partners-designed Art of the Americas wing is elegantly incorporated into the museum’s original 1909 Beaux Arts building. And don’t miss the views. Two glass-and-granite pavilions flank the central glass building, offering sweeping vistas of the city skyline. Four stories and 53 galleries span three millennia, starting with ancient Native American art on the first level, and ending in 20th-century art upstairs.

For more of “Architecture + Art,” pick up the Fall 2010 issue of AmericanStyle, on newsstands Sept. 7! Subscribe now and never miss an article.