Memphis Art Museum

The Memphis Art Museum is the new downtown home of the institution formerly known as the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, occupying a full city block on Front Street where downtown Memphis meets the Mississippi riverfront. Herzog & de Meuron designed it with architect of record archimania and landscape architect OLIN as a single sculptural form, pairing a gallery pavilion with a reconstructed bluff that serves as its sloping base. It is among the first major American museums built with laminated timber, a nod to the city's history as a hardwood capital, and its tones draw from the clay banks of the river. A transparent street-level facade, a community courtyard and a rooftop sculpture garden open the collection outward to the sidewalk.