In judging PUAM\u2019s exterior, I am reminded of a conversation I had last spring<\/a> with Martina Droth, the director of the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) in New Haven, Connecticut. At the time, we were discussing the reopening of the museum\u2019s Louis Kahn-designed building, which had been closed for refurbishment. \u201cIt is difficult for us to present a friendly face,\u201d Droth told me. \u201cSome people don\u2019t know that we are a museum because of our name, or are intimidated because of our academic association.\u201d To help entice visitors, the YCBA is actively programming eye-catching art in its lobby. The museum\u2019s front desk and bookstore even received an award from the American Institute of Architects in Connecticut. Surely the new PUAM will face the same challenges as the YCBA.<\/p>\n The Princeton University Art Museum <\/strong>Photo: Richard Barnes Courtesy Princeton University Art Museum<\/p>\n A similar story in two Portlands<\/p>\n Designs with elements similar to PUAM are popping up across US museums. In Oregon, the Portland Art Museum completed an expansion<\/a> called the Mark Rothko Pavilion. The new space again features distinct volumes and strong vertical lines from window seams along the fa\u00e7ade. Unlike PUAM\u2019s dark, serrated concrete, the Oregon museum welcomes visitors with an expanse of windows, some cloudy to diffuse direct sunlight. Designed by Hennebery Eddy Architects with Vinci Hamp Architects, the expansion resembles a close-up of PUAM on first glance.<\/p>\n Likewise, the Portland Museum of Art in Maine is undergoing an expansion<\/a> to unify its campus. Designed by Lever Architecture, the building features sustainable mass timber and soaring fa\u00e7ades of windows that are divided into cubes. Relying on distinct vertical lines and with volumes clearly delineated, the similarities with Adjaye\u2019s aesthetic are clear.<\/p>\n To be fair, strong vertical lines and pared-down fa\u00e7ades are not new in museum architecture. The architect Renzo Piano made this a staple, earning him commissions worldwide such as the Menil Collection in Houston and Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland. But Piano knows when to throw in a curve, protruding armature or industrial material. Moreover, I am focusing only on the outside of museum buildings, but as the barrier between the public and the art contained within, the exterior impression can be the difference between a visitor passing through the door and walking by.<\/p>\n More dynamic than PUAM is Adjaye\u2019s other new US building in collaboration with Cooper Robertson, the Studio Museum in Harlem<\/a>, which consists of dark, hefty cubes of different sizes stacked on top of one another. Walls of windows fill some cubes, welcoming the public with a glimpse of the activities inside. The nearly solid volume that sits atop the building feels clunky, but it juxtaposes the expanses of windows. Still, the Studio Museum bears characteristics of today\u2019s trends, perhaps a result of Adyaje\u2019s thumbprint and his broader influence. Though both institutions have distanced themselves from the firm after David Adjaye was accused in 2023 of sexual assault<\/a> (he denies the allegations), the architect\u2019s vision remains clear. But compared to other new buildings, it is easy to be disappointed by his style.<\/p>\n Take, for example, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum in upstate New York, which tapped Shohei Shigematsu of OMA to expand its campus<\/a> with a predominantly glass, jewel box-shaped building that emanates light. Or look to Diller Scofidio + Renfro\u2019s design for the Broad in Los Angeles<\/a>, both its existing building and the expansion. The original structure, one large volume draped in a lacy white veil, immediately piques curiosity. For the expansion, the firm balanced the veil with another large cube, this one enveloped in a smooth, grey exterior with soft recessions ending in windows and viewing platforms. The expansion, which the museum\u2019s founding director Joanne Heyler says \u201cis designed to signal access, playfulness and a generous embrace of the visitor\u201d, is exemplary of how a museum can support innovative architecture while satisfying the needs of its collection.<\/p>\n The Powerhouse Parramatta in Western Sydney offers another elegant example. Abutting both an urban centre with skyscrapers and a tree-lined neighbourhood, the building by Moreau Kusunoki features distinct exterior columns oriented to resemble the letters A, N, W and X. In addition to delineating different levels of the building, these letters in their individual rows break up the fa\u00e7ade and achieve a lace-like geometric design.<\/p>\n Indeed, looking outside the US offers an abundance of exciting new museum projects. Gehry\u2019s design for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is nothing short of spectacular, with its cascading pile of geometric shapes and juxtaposing metal, glass and concrete surfaces. Also in Abu Dhabi is Foster + Partners\u2019 Zayed National Museum, featuring soaring vertical latticed wings inspired by the region\u2019s history of falconry. In Rotterdam, a stainless-steel double helix crowns the Fenix museum of migration<\/a>. Offering insight into just how far design can reach, these buildings will undoubtedly draw visitors as excited to see the exteriors as they are to experience the art housed inside.<\/p>\n As trends go, one can only hope the style spreading through US museum design today will eventually fall out of fashion. All forms of creativity could use moments of self-reflection; perhaps it is time some museum architecture has its own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The year 2025 has marked a boom in museum architecture, with new buildings and buzzy expansions underway worldwide.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[4023,54171,4729,4842,184293,196640,196639,196641,194340,49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-638024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-architecture","9":"tag-david-adjaye","10":"tag-museums","11":"tag-museums-heritage","12":"tag-portland-art-museum","13":"tag-portland-museum-of-art","14":"tag-princeton-university-art-museum","15":"tag-the-studio-museum-in-harlem","16":"tag-the-year-in-review-2025","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115734712014566422","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/b780db16379485caac401bb4973b70ec4c317271-8425x5616.jpg\"\/)
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