Kulapat Yantrasast has become the go-to architect for contemporary art galleries and museums in the US. Here are 10 of his major projects that differ from typical white-box exhibition spaces, with warm materials, unusual layouts and custom furniture.

Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan, 2006
The first major commission awarded to Yantrasast's Los Angeles-based firm wHY, the Grand Rapids Art Museum integrates ancillary functions – such as the cafe, store, classrooms, library and auditorium, as well as outdoor spaces – to bring activity into the galleries.
Among these is the Rosa Parks Circle plaza designed by architect Maya Lin, with the museum's large glazed walls offering views and plenty of natural light.

Ancient galleries at Art Institute of Chicago, Michigan, 2012 A dark 1970s interior at the Art Institute of Chicago was turned into bright and minimal spaces for the museum's ancient galleries in this renovation project, which wHY completed alongside a Renzo Piano-designed expansion.
The collections of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art are grouped together in glass cases, which are then arranged into "island configurations" that signal the relationships between the different art groups.

Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2014
Tasked to reconfigure Harvard University's "overstuffed" galleries, Yantrasast stripped back and simplified the spaces, using a "kit of parts" arrangement and subtle lighting.
The instit...