I recently attended a lecture by the Japanese architect Ryue Nishizawa, who’s part of the Pritzker-Prize-winning duo SANAA. It was part of the Daniels Faculty’s Bulthaup Lecture Series, which you must know about if you’re in Toronto and interested in contemporary architecture. Next up: Manuel Aires Mateus, Jan. 15.

Anyway: Nishizawa mentioned a fascinating new project, a satellite for the Louvre in the town of Lens. SANAA’s design arranged the artworks and artifacts on display in one, long, continuous hall, with contemporaneous pieces arranged next to each other (and works with thematic links arranged in front of each other). It makes for a long, chronological walk through art history. It’s a fascinating gambit, and brilliantly executed,  to judge from new photos of the completed interior up at Architizer.

This is provocative, and I think a useful corrective to anyone who thinks the ROM’s Lee-Chin Crystal is an innovative museum design.

Sorry for the extended absence of this blog; more soon, I promise.