Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Founded in 1870, Boston''s Museum of Fine Arts is not just an impressive museum - it is also housed in one of America''s most distinguished buildings. When it was time to add an extension to accommodate the museum''s holdings, Foster + Partners conceived of a brilliant strategy, one that reinforced the logic of the original Beaux-Arts footprint while adding a few neo-Modernist twists such as the insertion of a freestanding glazed structure between the building''s two principal spaces. This ''crystal spine'' encloses an existing courtyard in a glass ''jewel box,'' which creates spaces for visitor orientation and a cafe and leads to the new Art of Americas wing. This book provides a detailed history of the 120,000 square foot project, from the museum''s founding to the triumphant unveiling of the new wing.