Imagining the Future Museum:
21 Dialogues with Architects
by András Szántó
Capturing the mindset of a generation of museum architects at a moment of accelerated change.
About the Book
READ THE PRESS RELEASE
What will the art museum look and feel like in five, ten, fifty years? In his previous book, The Future of the Museum: 28 Dialogues (2020), New York-based cultural strategist András Szántó interviewed a group of international museum directors, who espoused an expanding set of goals and functions for art museums. Now, in his follow-up volume, Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects, Szántó engages in conversations with visionary architects worldwide about what sort of “hardware” will be required for the art institution of tomorrow.
21 dialogues with 25 architects who have designed museums all over the world.
What emerges from the 21 dialogues—all conducted between February and September, 2022—is a composite portrait of a generation of architects working to make the museum more flexible, porous, human-centered, culturally responsive, digitally amplified, and environmentally responsible.
Among Szántó’s conversation partners are architects already widely acclaimed for the institutions they’ve built. But the majority of the 21 respondents are emerging forces in the world of museum design – their median age is around 50 – with many years of museum-making ahead of them. The book includes an original sketch by each of the architects and photographs of selected projects by the featured studios.
KUNLÉ ADEYEMI
NLÉ, Amsterdam & Lagos
DAVID ADJAYE
Adjaye Associates, London, New York City, Accra
PAULA ZASNICOFF CARDOSO & CARLOS ALBERTO MACIEL
Arquitetos Associados, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
DAVID
CHIPPERFIELD
David Chipperfield Architects, London, Berlin, Milan, Shanghai
MINSUK CHO
Mass Studies, Seoul
ELIZABETH
DILLER
Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York City
FRIDA ESCOBEDO
Frida Escobedo, Mexico City
SOU FUJIMOTO
Sou Fujimoto Architects, Tokyo
LINA GHOTMEH
Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture, Paris
BJARKE INGELS
BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group, Copenhagen, New York City, London, Barcelona, Shenzhen
KABAGE KARANJA & STELLA MUTEGI
Cave_bureau, Nairobi
LI HU & HUANG WENJING
OPEN, Beijing
JING LIU &
FLORIAN IDENBURG
SO – IL, New York City
MA YANSONG
MAD Architects, Beijing, Jiaxing, Los Angeles, Rome
WINY MAAS
MVRDV, Rotterdam, Shanghai, Paris, Berlin
ROTH —
EDUARDO NEIRA
Roth Architecture, Quintana Roo, Mexico
STEPHAN SCHÜTZ
gmp – von Gerkan, Marg, and Partners Architects, Hamburg, Berlin, Aachen, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hanoi
KERSTIN THOMPSON
Kerstin Thompson Architects, Melbourne
XU TIANTIAN
DnA Design and Architecture, Beijing
KULAPAT YANTRASAST
WHY Architecture, Los Angeles and New York City
LIAM YOUNG
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Los Angeles
Events
ROTTERDAM – Het Nieuwe Instituut, February 11
NEW YORK – Brooklyn Museum, February 15
ASPEN – Aspen Art Museum, February 18
VENICE – Architecture Biennale, May 19
Please check back for details and other events.
Press
What will museums of the future be like? Three key takeaways from a new book
In his 2020 book, The Future of the Museum: 28 Dialogues, the cultural strategist András Szántó spoke to museum directors around the world and discovered that institutions were “turning more democratic, community-focused, equity minded, culturally inclusive, and experiential, among other pivots”. For his latest book, Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects, Szántó spoke with David Chipperfield, Frida Escobedo and David Adjaye, among others, to find out “how the momentous changes of our era” are shaping museum architecture. Below he outlines three key takeaways. Read More call_made
How will museums look and feel in 5, 10 or 50 years’ time?
In his latest book, Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects, András Szántó talks to visionary architects worldwide, including some closely linked to Rotterdam and the Netherlands: Winy Maas (MVRDV), Ma Yansong (MAD Architects) and Kunlé Adeyemi (NLÉ). At an in-person panel on February 2nd, Szántó will talk to these leading practitioners – alongside Wim Pijbes, director of Stichting Droom en Daad – to discuss their recent and forthcoming projects in the Netherlands and their implications for the future of museums globally. Read More call_made
New book | Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects
What will the art museum look and feel like in five, ten, fifty years? In Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects, András Szántó engages in conversations with visionary architects worldwide about what sort of “hardware” will be required for the art institution of tomorrow. Included are dialogues with: Kunlé Adeyemi, David Adjaye, Paula Zasnicoff Cardoso & Carlos Alberto Maciel, David Chipperfield, Minsuk Cho, Elizabeth Diller Frida Escobedo, Sou Fujimoto, Lina Ghotmeh, Bjarke Ingels, Kabage Karanja & Stella Mutegi, Li Hu & Huang Wenjing, Jing Liu & Florian Idenburg, Yansong Ma, Winy Maas, Roth — Eduardo Neira, Stephan Schütz, Kerstin Thompson, Xu Tiantian, Kulapat Yantrasast, Liam Young. The book is a sequel to The Future of the Museum: 28 Dialogues (2020). Read More call_made
The Museum System Upgrade: A Q&A with András Szántó
András Szántó spoke with Adam Rozan for the American Alliance of Museums about his book The Future of the Museum: 28 Dialogues (2020) and its newly released sequel Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects (2022). Read More call_made
‘A Balance Between Wonder and Humility’: 25 Leading Architects Imagine How Future Museums Will Look in a Post-Starchitecture World
“But a museum that runs on new software will need new hardware. Which is why I spent the spring and summer of 2022 talking with architects from around the world.” Read an excerpt from Andras Szanto new book Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues With Architects on Artnet News. Read More call_made
Architecture Conversation: Hans Ulrich Obrist & András Szántó
Art museums are changing rapidly in response to accelerated cultural, political, and technological shifts in our society. A new kind of museum is emerging—more open, democratic, and accessible. This demands a new approach to museum architecture as well. Join the Aspen Art Museum on February 19 for a conversation with Serpentine Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist and New York–based author and cultural strategy consultant András Szántó, whose latest book Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects, surveys the emerging architectural landscape through dialogues with leading figures in the field. Read More call_made
Aspen Art Museum presents talk on future of museums
What is the future of museums in our global society? That is the question András Szántó and Hans Ulrich Obrist will discuss on the rooftop of the Aspen Art Museum at 4 p.m. on Sunday. They will reflect on how today’s generation of architects is working to re-invent the art museum. Szántó’s book, “Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects,” is a follow up to his 2021 book, “The Future of the Museum: 28 Dialogues,” in which he interviewed 28 of the world’s leading museum directors about the potential of art museums as “spaces for change and democracy.” Read More call_made
“Just as a generation of museum leaders began to open the museum up to a larger audience, a generation of architects started to move beyond look-at-me statements and to imagine more welcoming and accessible museums, ones that are intentionally rooted in their communities and urban or natural surroundings.”
–András Szántó
