Design
Can a Massive Museum Expansion Get Texans Walking?
What sets the expansion of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, apart is one of its secondary goals: to make the Museum District a real, walkable neighborhood.
Four years from now, Houston's Museum District may be completely unrecognizable. The recently unveiled plans for an expansion of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, include a dramatic, glowing new museum building as well as a new center for the Glassell School of Art, both designed by architect Steven Holl.
The $450 million expansion for the MFAH will cost well more than Frank Gehry's $350 million subterranean extension for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Houston plan isn't as pricey as Peter Zumthor's $650 million stem-to-stern reboot of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, but it's in the ballpark. Houston's plan might be more dramatic, though. And so far, it's on surer footing.