Kansas City Revisited: The New Bloch Building

Compared to the some of the other art museum building projects that have taken shape over the last decade or so (the Denver project comes to mind), Kansas City's Nelson-Atkins addition, which opens June 9th, is a modest contribution to trend of "starchitect" designs that overshadow the art they're built to house. The Bloch building nearly triples the amount of usable space for the museum, yet still allows the traditional neoclassical main building to do all the grandstanding.

Tucked into the rolling hills of the famous sloping sculpture garden, the new addition both hides and reveals itself at critical moments in the landscape. It's designed to glow at night, a humble gesture that seems to say: the only time I'll draw attention to myself is when the doors of the museum are locked and there is no chance of competing with the art inside. A wonderful sentiment for such an elegant, respectful design.