Christopher Hawthorne is the architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times.

Photographs of, respectively: Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao by Rafa Rivas/AFP/Corbis; Denver Art Museum by Miller Hare/courtesy of Denver Art Museum; Eyebeam office building, view from 21st Street, courtesy of Eyebeam; new Guggenheim on the Lower East Side of Manhattan by Richard Drew/AP/Wide World Photos; New York Times Magazine cover courtesy of the New York Times Magazine; the World Trade Center and the surrounding skyline by Michael S. Yamashita/Corbis; Toledo Glass Center from Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA; from Wallpaper magazine by Hiroyuki Hirai from the book MNM: Minimalist Interiors, by Quim Rosell, courtesy of Harper Design International; ground plans for SANAA's Glass Museum from Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA;  Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art courtesy of Steven Holl Architects; East Wing of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Jean Nouvel's Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, courtesy of Arte Factory; Neue Galerie exterior by Ed Finn; Asian Art Museum in San Francisco by Kaz Tsuruta/Asian Art Museum; Dia: Beacon interior by Stuart Tyson/© Dia Art Foundation; Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, courtesy of Helene Binet; MoMA from 54 Street and garden view from Digital Images © 2003 Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates/courtesy of MoMA; drawing of the interior second floor atrium from Digital Images © 2003 Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates/courtesy of MoMA; exterior of New York Times Building model by Fred R. Conrad/New York Times; model of New York Times Building by Naum Kazhdan/New York Times.