Translucent glass tubes meet with curvy roofs "imagined from cloud circles" in this art museum US firm Steven Holl designed for Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
Steven Holl Architects' Nancy and Rich Kinder Building ? which forms part of a major campus redesign ? is split into segments topped with curved roofs. This creates gaps for natural light to enter into the galleries inside the 164,000-square-foot (15,200-square-metre) building.
Curved translucent glass tubes wrap around the building. Photo by Richard Barnes
"The Texas sky opens 180-degrees overhead above a luminous canopy covering the new building," said Steven Holl Architects.
"Concave curves, imagined from cloud circles, push down on the roof geometry, allowing natural light to slip in with precise measure and quality, perfect for top-lit galleries." Transparent glass tubes are used on the western side around an arcade
Tube-like laminated glass covers the exterior to contrast existing buildings on Museum of Fine Arts Houston campus ? including an adjacent transparent glass and steel building by Mies van der Rohe, and an opaque stone building by Rafael Moneo.
On the west side of Nancy and Rich Kinder Building transparent glass tubes wrap around an arcade area.
The building is open to views of gardens outside
The transparent cladding, formed of laminated glass tubes with semicircular sections, is suspended from steel supports cantilevered off the concrete walls. Tubes are bolstered togethe...