SAHARA Highlights: Museums, Part 1: The Americas

This month’s Highlights feature the first sampling from SAHARA’s collection of museum architecture and design. After the editors examined the incredible breadth of this subject they decided that this topic will be a series. The span of museum-related content is truly global and diverse, covering everything from the grand and imposing to the humble and homemade, from purpose-built to adaptive re-use. This month we offer a selection of museums in North, South and Central America. Thank you to our contributors, as always.

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Paul Philippe Cret, and Fellheimer and Wagner Architects, Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1929–33. View of rotunda, the largest semi-dome in the western hemisphere, and the Winold Reiss mosaics representing local industry. Photograph by Peter Clericuzio, 2012.

Gordon Bunshaft, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 1966-74. Photograph by Richard Longstreth.

Juan O’Gorman and Diego Rivera, Museo Diego Rivera de Anahuacalli, Mexico City, 1944–64. Interior exhibit display view, showing the Mayan and Aztec-influenced building design. Photograph by Amber Wiley, 2014.

LEMAYMICHAUD Architecture Design, First Nations Hotel and Museum, Wendake, Quebec, 2007-8. The hotel design was inspired by Iroquoian longhouses, while the conical museum evokes an Algonquin smokehouse. Photograph by Dell Upton, 2013.

Zaha Hadid, Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, Michigan, 2012. Photograph by Kevin Harrington, 2013.

Douglas Cardinal, The Canadian Museum of History (formerly the Canadian Museum of Civilization), Gatineau, Quebec, 1989. Photograph by Aliki Economides, 2017.

Oscar Niemeyer, Contemporary Art Museum, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1991–96. Photograph by Barbara Boifava.

LSU Rural Life Museum, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This mid-19^th century slave house was formerly located on the Welham Plantation in St. James Parish. Photograph by Dell Upton, 2012.

Fernando Romero, Museo Soumaya, Mexico City, Mexico, 2011. Detail of the 16,000 aluminum tiles that make up the cladding. Photograph by Amber Wiley, 2014.

Coz, Polidura & Volante Arquitectos, Museum of the Atacama Desert (Huanchaca Ruins Museum), Antofagasta, Chile, 20009. The museum is built on, and commemorates, a 19^th century silver foundry. View of the museum ramparts with foundry rooms behind. Photograph by Sarah Rovang, 2018.