Toward the turn of the 20th century, the world’s fair as galvanizing cultural phenomenon had long been capturing the collective imagination, while its more demure cousin, the regional expo, busily proliferated in its shadow.

With its undulating roof profile, the Coliseums, a complex built for the 2010 South American Games in Medellín, Colombia, appears as a mountain — albeit a caricature of one — in the midst of the city.

Corporate office buildings used to offer architects the chance to tap into fat construction budgets and make serious design statements.

Charged with adding expansive and flexible exhibition space to the museum's campus, the Renzo Piano team—who were responsible for the neighboring Broad Contemporary Art Museum, completed in 2008—designed an open-plan pavilion large enough to accommodate large-scale works or several separate exhibitions simultaneously.

In 1968, the year before the Oakland Museum opened, New York Times architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable wrote: “In terms of architecture and environment, Oakland may be the most thoughtfully revolutionary museum in the world.”

A two-level, 42,000-square-foot headquarters for the fine-art exhibitions of the Whatcom Museum, which focuses on the history and art of the Northwest. 

Museum expansions designed by prominent architects often result in a new main entrance to the addition’s grand (and new) lobby/party hall.