Tampa Museum of Art, Florida Exhibition Building, American Architecture, Images
Tampa Museum of Art in Florida
Exhibition Building Development in USA – design by Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects Inc.
Jul 3, 2017
Tampa Museum of Art
Design: Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects Inc.
Location: Tampa, Florida, USA
Tampa Museum of Art

Museums began in ancient times as Temples, dedicated to the muses, where the privileged went to be amused, to witness beauty, and to learn. After the Renaissance museums went public with palatial structures where the idea of the gallery arose, a space to display paintings and sculpture. Later, museums became centers of education, researching, collecting, and actively provoking thought and the exchange of ideas. By presenting the highest achievements of culture, museums became a stabilizing and regenerative force, crusading for quality and excellence. The role of the modern museum is both aesthetic and didactic, both Temple and Forum.
The design of contemporary museum can be characterized by two polar approaches. On the one-hand buildings which aim to be works of art in themselves, independent sculptural objects as signatures of their architects. The new Rome Museum is the most extreme example, where the building opened empty, without any art to compromise its architecture. On the opposite end of the spectrum are museums as containers, as beautiful jewel boxes, treasure chests whose sole purpose is to be filled with art, like the Tamp...