On the Grid: Nasher Offers a Look at Architect’s Process

When Renzo Piano designed the Nasher Sculpture Center, he did so on a grid – and that theme was carried out throughout the gardens, too.

The Nasher is divided into five pavilions on the main floor, with walls covered in two-inch slaps of Italian travertine. At either end, glass walls create an opportunity for the eye to go beyond the interior and out to the garden. Above, a barrel-vaulted glass ceiling allows natural light into the galleries.

Piano, who won the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 1998, designed several critically acclaimed art museums; including the Beyeler Museum in Basel, the Menil Collection in Houston, and Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

Want to learn more about the building – and the grid? Nasher administrative director Neil McGlennon and gallery educator Becky Daniels provide this discussion.