Art Gallery Building Designs
Key Contemporary Arts Developments from around the Globe.
post updated 6 October 2026
e-architect select what we feel are the key Art Gallery Building Designs around the world, but additions are always welcome. We cover completed buildings plus new building designs across the world. The focus is on contemporary Art Gallery buildings.
New Art Gallery Building Designs
Art Gallery Buildings : more recent galleries architecture designs
Art Gallery Building Designs : A-Z (this page)
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Art Gallery Designs
Contemporary Art Gallery Designs – Selection, alphabetical:
21st Century MoCA, Kanazawa, Japan
Design: SANAA
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
176 Prince of Wales Road, London, UK
Design: Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM)
176 Prince of Wales Road
Am Kupfergraben 10, Berlin, Germany
Design: David Chipperfield Architects
Am Kupfergraben 10 gallery building
ARoS – Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark
Design: Schmidt Hammer Lassen
ARoS
Art Gallery of Alberta Building, Canada
Design: Randall Stout Architects
Art Gallery of Alberta Building
Baltic Mills project, Gateshead, England, UK
Design: Ellis Williams Architects
Baltic Mills Building
Barcelona MoCA, Spain
Design: Richard Meier & Partners / F.J. Ramos
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art
Caixia Galacia Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain
Architect: Grimshaw
Caixia Galacia Art Gallery
CCCB, Spain
Design: Pinon, Viaplana, Mercade, Architects
Barcelona Centre of Contemporary Culture
Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France
Design: Foster + Partners
Carre d’Art Nimes
Clore Gallery, Tate, London
Design: JSMW&AL / B+BAL
Clore Gallery
EMPAC, Troy, New York State, USA
Design: Grimshaw
EMPAC Troy : Arts Center
Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong
Design: OMA
Edouard Malingue Gallery
Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Jean Nouvel Architect with Emanuel Cattani et Associés
Cartier Foundation
Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, Denmark
Design: Tony Fretton Architects
Fuglsang Kunstmuseum : Design Contest
George Segal Art Gallery, New Jersey, USA
Design: ikon.5 architects
American Gallery
Glass Pavilion, Museum of Art, Ohio, USA
Design: SANAA
Glass Pavilion, Toledo
Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, England, UK
Design: Pringle Richards Sharratt
Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry
Kiasma Contemporary Art, Finland
Design: Steven Holl Architects
Finnish Modern Art Gallery, Helsinki
La Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
Design: Josep Lluís Sert, Architect
Joan Miro Foundation
Latvian MoCA, Riga, Latvia
Design: Rem Koolhaas, OMA
Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art
Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland
Design: O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects
Irish gallery building
Lisson Gallery, London
Design: Tony Fretton Architects
Lisson Gallery
Louisiana Art Gallery, Denmark
Jørgen Bo & Vilhelm Wohlert Architects
Louisiana Art Gallery
MAXXI, Rome, Italy
Design: Zaha Hadid Architects
Maxxi Rome Centre of Contemporary Arts
MAXXI will not only be a place where to exhibit works of art. MAXXI will be a research workshop for comparing different contemporary languages: design, fashion, cinema and advertising will establish a dialogue with art and architecture.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Shenzhen, southeast China
Architects: Coop Himmelb(l)au
Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art Planning
This building includes two museums: one on Contemporary Art and one on architecture and city planning. The architects have tried to combine the two into one “Urban Monolith” by twisting the skin of the form though one imagines there are other architectural devices employed!
Museum of Middle East Modern Art, Culture Village, Dubai, UAE
Design: UNStudio
MOMEMA
It is envisaged that MOMEMA will hold a variety of spaces to exhibit Arts and Culture such as exhibitions, art galleries, leasable workshop spaces, auditorium, and amphitheatre for live performances and international festivals. This contemporary building offers panoramic views to the surroundings, and vice versa.
National Gallery, Kulturforum, Berlin, Germany, western Europe
Design: Mies van der Rohe Architect
National Gallery Berlin Building
The Neue Nationalgalerie focuses on artworks from the early 20th century. This German capital museum building and its sculpture gardens were designed by celebrated architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and opened in 1968.
National Gallery, London, England, UK
Design: William Wilkins
National Gallery
National Gallery of Scotland, UK
Design: William Playfair Architect
photo © Adrian Welch
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Neue Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany
Design: Jim Stirling & Partner; Jim Stirling Michael Wilford & Associates
Stuttgart gallery
New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, NY, USA
Design: SANAA architects
New Museum of Contemporary Art, N.Y.
The Photographers Gallery, London, UK
O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects
The Photographers Gallery London
Project Orange, Moscow, Russia
Design: Foster + Partners
Project Orange Moscow : mixed-use project with contemporary art museum
Reina Sofía Museum of Modern Art, Madrid, central Spain
Design: Ian Richie Architects
Spanish Gallery building, Madrid
Royal Academy of Arts, London, southeast England, UK
Design: David Chipperfield Architects
Royal Academy of Arts London project
Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea, London
Paul Davis + Partners / Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Saatchi Gallery Chelsea
Sapphire Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA
XTEN Architecture
Sapphire Gallery
Schacter Gallery, New York City, NY, USA
Acconci Studio
Schacter Gallery
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009, Kensington Gardens, west London, England, UK
SANAA architects
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009, London
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark
Anna Maria Indrio, C. F. Møller Architects
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
Stuart Shave Modern Art, contemporary gallery, London, England, UK
Design: David Kohn Architects
Stuart Shave Modern Art
The new gallery occupies the ground floor and basement of a modest 1950’s office building. The design approach was to exploit the positive attributes of the existing building and urban context to the gallery’s advantage.
Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Idaho, USA
Tom Kundig Architect
American Arts building, Ketchum
Suntory Museum of Art, Japan
Kengo Kuma & Associates
Suntory Museum of Art
Tate Modern, South Bank, London, UK
Herzog & de Meuron
Tate Modern Building
Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK
Eric Parry Architects
Timothy Taylor Gallery
Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, Sussex, southern England
Rick Mather Architects
Towner Art Gallery collection
Turner Gallery, Margate, Kent, southeast England, UK
David Chipperfield Architects
Turner Gallery
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, northwest England
HH Vale, Architect & Cornelius Sherlock
Liverpool art gallery
Whitechapel Art Gallery Building, London, England
Robbrecht en Daem / WWM
Willumsens Museum, Sjælland, Denmark
Tyge Hvass
Willumsens Museum
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Louis Kahn / Polshek Partnership Architects
American art gallery
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Art Gallery Designs – no images
Art Gallery Architectural Designs – no images, alphabetical:
A G Leventis Art Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus
2008-
Design: Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects
Akademie der Kunste – Academy of Arts, Pariser Platz, Berlin, Germany
2005
Design: Behnisch, Behnisch + Partner
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
–
Design: Denton Corker Marshall Architects
Art Gallery extension, Vancouver, Canada
–
Design: Michael Maltzan Architect
Berlin Academy of Arts, Pariser Platz, Berlin, Germany
2005
Behnisch & Partner with Werner Durth
Website: Berlin Academy of Arts
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
1963
Le Corbusier
Centre d`Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain
1989
Pinon, Viaplana, Architects
James Simon Gallery, Museum Island, Berlin, Germany
2007
–
Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, USA
1986
Arata Isozaki / Gruen Associates, architects
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, USA
1996
Josef Paul Kleiheus, architect
National Gallery in Tokyo, Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan
2005
Kisho Kurokawa architect
National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan
1959
Le Corbusier
Reina Sofía – Extension, Madrid, Spain
Date built: 2006
Architect: Jean Nouvel
The Richard and Lois Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Date built: 2003
Zaha Hadid Architects
Studio Weil Private gallery for Barbara Weil, Port d’Andratx, Mallorca, Spain
2003
Architect: Studio Libeskind
Tate Gallery Liverpool, England
1988
Phase 1 Design: : James Stirling Michael Wilford and Associates
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran
1977
Design: Kamran Diba, architect
Wakayama – The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, Japan
1994
Design: Kisho Kurokawa architect
Wexner Center for the Visual Arts, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Design: Peter Eisenman and Richard Trott
Wexner Center
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1901
Design: C. Harrison Townsend, architect
More Art Gallery Buildings projects online soon.
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Architectural Design
Art gallery building designs & Arts architecture interior photos
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Architecture of Art Galleries
‘Good things can happen by accident’
Article by architect Alan Dunlop, Scotland
I once missed the turn-off for the Grand Canyon and ended up seeing Utah. Had I not turned back I would have missed Arizona, renowned for desert, quality of light and Taliesin West. In Phoenix, I went looking for Frank Lloyd Wright but discovered instead a jewel of an art gallery and museum.
The Heard Museum of Native American Cultures and Art was founded by Dwight and Maie Heard in 1929 in their home. As their collection increased it became internationally respected. The museum building has grown substantially but retains a domestic scale that is a hospitable backdrop for art. There is a sequence of shaded courtyards showcasing sculpture, and the native art rests easy in an environment that welcomes rather than alienates. I stayed so long I never made it to Taliesin.
Art galleries and museums are often overwhelming. ‘The first thing you want to do is have a cup of coffee,’ said Louis Kahn. ‘You feel so tired immediately.’ Not so the Burrell Gallery. For some, the collection of industrialist Sir William Burrell is more notable for its eclecticism than its quality, but there are works by Degas, Renoir and the Scottish Colourists. The collection may be an indulgence but the building by Barry Gasson and Brit Anderson is rigorous. Constructed from Locharbriggs red sandstone in Glasgow’s Pollock Park, it incorporates elements of the collection into the fabric and is designed in terraces to meld into its setting. It is a play of subtlety and respect for both context and content. Completed in 1983, it is yet to be surpassed as an art gallery and museum in the UK.
“The Quadracci Pavilion diminishes the collection it houses”
Gasson and Anderson must have known the Louisiana Museum in Humlebaek, Denmark, where art, architecture and landscape are also skilfully integrated. On the Oresund seafront, Jorgen Bo and Vilhelm Wohlert have over 35 years created a sequence of discreet, unpretentious galleries. The Louisiana Collection includes contemporary Danish art and works by Picasso, Lichtenstein and Henry Moore. Before starting to design, Bo and Wohlert spent months on site in 1957, understanding the landscape, carrying on ‘a kind of dialogue with the natural surroundings’. Their larger and most recent buildings, assisted by Claus Wohlert, are partially set into the ground to minimise their impact and to retain an uninterrupted vista to the sea. The spaces are bright and simply constructed with white rendered walls, timber roofs and screens. As with the Burrell, buildings follow the slope externally but internally levels are maintained, creating terraces to maximise daylight to the galleries.
Wall-to-wall glazed screening framing a view is also used by Renzo Piano in the Beyeler Foundation Art Museum near Basel. Here the landscape is ordered by the architecture and the building is much more a recognisable statement than in Humelbaek or Glasgow. The galleries slip between retaining walls which run north to south to maintain a level floor as the site drops west to east. It is a sophisticated structure with brises-soleil regulating the daylight. Internally, finishes are muted to respect the art. The Beyeler represents a transition between the gallery integrated to landscape and architecture which seeks to dominate it, in this case as ‘a ship lying anchored alongside the busy road’.
photo : Robert Lemermeyer
Art galleries and museums confer cultural status. Every city needs one. Many new projects, however, seem driven by the desire to create an architectural statement rather than to provide a venue that is welcoming and accessible. Calatrava’s first building in the US, the Quadracci Pavilion at Milwaukee Art Museum, completed in 2002, is the antithesis of the Louisiana Museum. Originally intended as an extension to Eero Saarinen’s stark War Memorial, it dominates their shared lakefront location. Built in dazzling white concrete, the entrance from a suspension bridge bursts into a 30m high glass reception hall. A sculptured louvered sunscreen on the roof rises and lowers to control the sun at set intervals during the day.
‘The Flap’, recalling the fluke of a whale or the sail of a ship, has become a piece of performance art for tourists, many of whom never enter the gallery itself. Although immaculately detailed and constructed, the building diminishes the collection it houses, which includes work by Winslow Homer and Georgia O’Keefe. The collection of American decorative arts after 1960 is apparently among the nation’s finest. Unfortunately, I didn’t see much of it… I went for a cup of coffee. Jan 2007
Comments for the Art Gallery Building Designs page welcome.