Various prestigious architects present their most recent creations for art facilities in this book, from the most innovative and avant-garde proposals, to those that attempt to create spaces whose personalities adapt to their artistic contents, through the conversion of existing structures. This translates into the most innovative contemporary designs, capable of housing the best art collections in the world, while becoming additional works of architecture that beautify and promote the cities in which they are located By means of an extensive compilation of the most outstanding projects, with ample illustrations and construction plans and details, this book exhibits architectural creativity in museums and art galleries.

If there is a discipline in which human development is absolutely clear, it is architecture. By considering the evolution of forms of construction through the ages, any observer could trace the long and irregular path taken by historical development; the techniques of design, technological innovations, the evolution of trends andthe formation of schools inevitably reflect the character, the "soul" of each civilization. At the present time we find a wide range of schools that coexist and are interrelated: Rationalism, the Modern Movement, technology an aesthetic form, Postmodemism, the return to classical orders, the recovery of local forms and building materials, Deconstructivism and ecological architecture.

Where is the true spirit of innovation? Who are the true creators of our time? What orders, what trends, are recognized as the most representative of the late 20th century? Answering these questions is no easy task, and cannot be done in this monographic volume devoted to projects related to culture. Our aim is merely to offer an honest, and we hope balanced, panorama of some projects that in our opinion can be considered as worthy representatives of the building fashions of our generation.

Indeed, in order to present representative works of the architecture of recent years we avoided a preference for any tendency,basing our selection solely on aesthetic criteria and the outstanding interest of the projects.

Mario Botta

Museum of Modern Art

Frank O. Gehry & Associates

Museum Guggenheim Bilbao

Shin Takamatsu & Associates

Shoji Ueda Museum of Photography

Alvaro Siza

Contemporary Galician Art Centre

Antoine Predock

American Heritage Center and Art Museum

UN Studio van Berkel & Bos

Mercedes-Benz Museum Facts & Figures

Vincent Comu & Benoit Crepet

Museum of Ambulant Theater

Roberto Luna / Arata Isozaki

OaixaForum

Gigon/Guyer architects + Zulauf Seippel

Schweingruber, landscape architects

Tadao Ando

Awaji-Yumebutai

Zaha Hadid Architects

Phaeno Science Center Wolfsburg

Josef Paul Kleihues

Museum fur Gegenwart

im Hamburger Bahnhof

William Bruder Architects

Deer Valley Rock Art Center

Paulo Mendes Da Rocha

Pinacoteca do Estado

Kisho Kurokawa & Associates

The Museum of Modern Art

Mansilla + Tunon Arquitectos

MUSAC in Le6n

Santiago Calatrava

Principe Felipe Science Museum