ABSTRACT
This chapter presents case studies of four major art museums and their latest building addition: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ("The Met"), New York; The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; and The Phoenix Art Museum. Despite its many transformations throughout the years, the Met remains one of the most popular museums in the world and has become the number one tourist attraction in New York. The Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago opened its doors to the public in May 2009, catapulting the Art Institute to the second largest museum in the United States. The selection of world-renowned architect Steven Holl for the addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City known as the Bloch Building emerged from a design competition initiated by the museum in 1999. Today the Phoenix Art Museum stands as a complex of different buildings constructed over a period of fifty years.
