Towards a new museum

by Victoria Newhouse

In this unprecedented investigation, architectural historian Victoria Newhouse challenges many hitherto accepted premises of museum design. She demonstrates that new museums - with a social function equal in importance to that of the 19th-century opera house - are often still based on old concepts that no longer apply to contemporary art forms. This unvarnished analysis is informed by interviews with museum directors and curators, collectors, artists and the architects themselves.