New Military Museums

Museum architecture has blossomed over
the past few decades. Art museums lead the
way in terms of new buildings by superstar architects
such as Frank Gehry, Herzog and de Meuron,
Jean Nouvel, and Renzo Piano, among many
more. Those facilities have received public and
professional recognition through media attention
and design awards. But other museum typologies
exist, one such being for buildings that showcase
military history and artifacts. All too often, one
thinks of these as unsophisticated in their design
and amateurish or antiquated in their exhibitions.
Nowadays, nothing can be further from the truth.
This volume examines more than thirty of them internationally
that were constructed over the past
two decades and more. The museums are featured
in individual entries and lavish color photography.
Some were designed by internationally
renowned architects such as Norman Foster, Daniel
Libeskind, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, and
Robert A. M. Stern, but many more are the products
of creative, accomplished designers. Beyond
the architecture of these museums, exhibition and
installation designs by noted specialist firms such
as Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Kossmann.dejong,
and Gallagher & Associates, among others,
have raised the bar in terms of immersive experiences
for their visitors.
New military museums presented within the
book are examined within the context of the history
of war memorials and military museums,
the latter being a less well researched subject.
In the end, military museums relate back to antique
sculptural commemorations of victorious
campaigns and martial leaders, collections and
displays of war trophies, and the search to find
useful architectural memorials, the latter especially
so after the World Wars of the twentieth century.
Architectural historian John Zukowsky has an
earned doctorate from Binghamton University.
While curator of architecture for The Art Institute
of Chicago (1978-2004), he organized a number
of award-winning exhibitions accompanied by
major books. After that, he held executive positions
within military-related museums such as
the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New
York and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library
in Chicago. Since 2012 he has authored several
books about architecture and design, including
Why on Earth Would Anyone Build That (2015),
Building Chicago: The Architectural Masterworks
(2016), and Architecture Inside - Out: Understanding
How Buildings Work (2018).