Divine Design
Vanity Fair names The Menil Collection one of the world's greatest new buildings
Everyone in town knows The Menil Collection is an intensely special world-class museum. But what's not often mentioned is that the structure itself is a modern marvel.
That's according to Vanity Fair's World Architecture Survey, in which over 50 of the world's leading architects, critics, and deans of architecture schools were asked their opinion on the five most important buildings, bridges and monuments constructed since 1980, and the greatest work thus far in the 21st century.
And with 10 votes, The Menil Collection, designed by Renzo Piano in 1987 to scale with the Montrose neighborhood and known for its ribbed roof creating serene, light-drenched spaces, came in second — in the entire world of buildings.
(Of Piano, The New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff once opined, "The serenity of his best buildings can almost make you believe that we live in a civilized world.")
In first place was Frank Gehry's bombastic Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain with 28 votes. Other renowned structures on the list include Maya Lin's Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.; the HSBC building in Hong Kong; Rem Koolhaas' Seattle Central Library and Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium.
The architecture greats that cited the Menil included Rafael Vañoly, Richard Gluckman, Deborah Burke, David Chipperfield, Sir Norman Foster, Paul Goldberger, Thom Mayne, Christian de Portzamparc, Sir Richard Rogers and Annabelle Selldorf.
