The architectural achievement of the Bloch Building at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is featured in three books–two currently on sale and one available in the fall. In addition, an article on the Vanity Fair website (vf.com) lists the Bloch Building, designed by Steven Holl, as one of 21 structures cited by 52 experts when asked to choose the five most important works of architecture created since 1980.
A forthcoming book available in the fall, TIME Great Buildings: The World’s Most Influential, Inspiring and Astonishing Structures, includes mention and a two-page photograph of the Bloch Building.
Key Buildings of the 20th Century by Richard Weston uses an image and plan of the Bloch Building as its cover art. It features 115 buildings around the world and includes a CD of images and plans. The book cites the Bloch Building as “…one of the major achievements in the new century.”
Contemporary Museums by Antonello Marotta includes mention of the building as well and devotes four pages of photos and design drawings. Marotta writes that Holl showed his “…architectural talent for using a compositional principle applied to different forms growing out of the local surroundings.”
The above two publications are available at the Museum Store.
The magazine Vanity Fair surveyed 52 architecture experts around the world and asked them to name the five most important works of architecture created since 1980. Those experts named 132 structures. The architect Frank Gehry received the most votes for his Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain. Holl’s Bloch Building was 18th on the list of the top 21 most-cited buildings.
www.nelson-atkins.org