New Kid on the Bloch

If you have ever been puzzled about the 'art' in architecture, go to Kansas City. There, the new addition to the Nelson Atkins Museum -- the Bloch Building -- shows what can be done with light and space, in new ways. This isn't a cartoonish Bilbao from Frank Gehry (always seemed appropriate he did the Disney Hall in LA).

The Bloch works with dramatic white panes and panels, hidden and filtered light that creeps, illuminates, bends and surprises (yes, even in the men's room in the image above!) and creates quiet spaces to show off some incredible collections.

Want to begin understanding this amazing art museum/gallery/sanctuary? Check out the new, comprehensive work by designer/architect Jack Rees called The Sixth Surface: Steven Holl Lights the Nelson-Atkins Museum. (Holl is the brilliant architect behind the Bloch.)

Just as the museum offers multiple points of entry for visitors, the book offers multiple interpretations of the combined structures.
The Sixth Surface features a collection of poems, essays and artworks that helps translate the expanded Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
The Sixth Surface is named for the innermost surface of the innermost panel of glass that constitutes Steven Holl’s structure.

You can order The Sixth Surface online, too!