Curved Roof with Glass Tubes Typical of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building at the Museum of Fine Art

The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), designed by Steven Holl Architects and completed in 2020, attracts attention for its curved roof and glass tubes. The building is designed to showcase the museum's modern and contemporary art. The construction of this building unifies the main campus area and becomes the main entry point on the new campus. 

The building has multiple entry points marked by seven gardens in the building's footprint with the single largest entry point located at the intersection of Bissonnet and Main Street in the city of Texas. It is also the main access to the Susan and Fayez S Sarofim Campus of the Museum of Fine Arts. Visitors are pampered from the moment they step into the entrance lobby with the warm, open atmosphere of the garden.

The 15,200m2 building has a trapezoidal shape and is covered with vertical glass tubes that reflect light from the pond at night on the entire facade. The tubular glass laminate serves to distinguish existing buildings on the Museum of Fine Arts Houston campus including the adjacent transparent glass and steel building by Mies van der Rohe, and the opaque stone building by Rafael Moneo. 

The laminated glass tubes that envelop the exterior of the building are composed of semicircular glass tubes suspended using steel supports that protrude from the concrete walls. The tubes are arranged with aluminum clips and rest on steel racks at the bottom. The narrow space between the glass layer and the concrete wall acts as a natural temperature regulator, helping to reduce excessive heat in the building. 

The architectural design concept of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building highlights the concept of porosity, with the ground floor open from all sides. The roof of the building is covered by a “luminous” canopy in the shape of a concave curve inspired by the shape of clouds. The shape of the roof provides a gap that allows just the right amount of natural light to illuminate the gallery.

Upon entering the building, one can see that the curved underside serves the function of reflecting natural light into the gallery. The incoming light creates a uniqueness with its curved and flowing cut. The glass that covers the building is combined with the garden lighting, the glare of the radiated light creates openness and invites people to visit the power. 

The galleries in the building are arranged to have a natural flow of light interspersed with views of the seven shaded gardens. The ground floor serves as a common area open to the community for social activities and also includes a windowed gallery facing the main street devoted to immersive installations. Galleries on the second floor are devoted to the history of photography; decorative arts, crafts, and design; prints and drawings; 20th-century European and American painting and sculpture; and Latin American modernism. The third floor features thematic exhibitions. 

The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building has additional amenities such as a fine dining restaurant and café overlooking the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden, designed by Isamu Noguchi. An underground pedestrian tunnel is also available to connect the building with the Museum's existing gallery building and the new Glassell School of Art.

The building also emphasizes ecological innovation, the use of glass tubes that reduce solar heat absorption by 70%, the implementation of displacement ventilation, and a design that retains all the surrounding live oak trees.  With a design that emphasizes openness and integration with its surroundings, the Nancy and Rich Kinder Museum offers an inviting and dynamic space for the community and visitors to enjoy modern and contemporary art.