Nelson-Atkins Museum Addition in Kansas City (exterior)
Photo: Andy Ryan

Steven Holl Architects designed an expansion and renovation of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., which opened this past June. Five translucent, rectangular pavilions placed in the hillside blend architecture with the landscape. The project won a 2008 Institute Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects.

Nelson-Atkins Museum Addition in Kansas City (interior)
Photo: Andy Ryan

The museum's design draws light down into the galleries that are banked into the hillside. Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for The New Yorker, described it as "a serene and exhilarating place in which to view art."

School of Art and Art History, University of Iowa in Iowa City
Photo: Christian Richters

The program for this project pushed Steven Holl Architects to convince the school to change the building site in order to move it closer to other existing art buildings and to use a pond and a bluff as part of the landscaping. The building received a 2007 Institute Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects.

Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle University
Photo: Paul Warchol

Steven Holl chose "A Gathering of Different Lights" as the guiding concept for the design of the chapel. The metaphor of light is shaped in different volumes emerging from the roof whose irregularities aim at different qualities of light. At night, the light volumes are like beacons shining in all directions out across the campus. Most of the buildings furnishings and architectural details were designed by the architects and fabricated by local artisans.