During the 1970s, artists transformed light industrial buildings in New York City’s SoHo district into studios and residences.

History, if left forgotten, can fall perilously to the wayside. Such was the fate of the Washington, D.C. landmark Atlas Theater Cinema until a foundation sought to transform the former 1930’s movie house and adjoining vacant storefronts into a new, state-of-the-art 58,000-square-foot performing arts facility.

Though embedded in a mammoth, mixed-use development, the comparatively modest 50,590-square-foot Suntory Museum of Art confidently stands its ground.

For years, the Japanese have been infatuated with Manhattan real estate. Timeless and elegant, New York landmarks fronting gracious avenues are everything that the vast majority of Tokyo buildings are not.

An installation space dedicated to design, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT is Tadao Ando’s concrete contribution to Tokyo Midtown.

While four national institutions hold major collections, the crowds at blockbuster traveling exhibitions of masterworks by native artists (Hokusai) or foreign ones (Monet) have catapulted Tokyo and Japan into the front ranks of museum attendance.