Taubman Museum of Art

The Taubman Museum of Art sits in a sharp-angled glass and aluminium building on the eastern edge of downtown, a deliberate piece of contemporary architecture in a town largely built of brick. The collection focuses on American art, with strong holdings of 19th- and 20th-century works, regional Virginia art, and contemporary craft and folk art.

The permanent collection is moderate in size but selectively excellent — works by John Singer Sargent, Norman Rockwell, Lee Krasner and the regional Appalachian painter Earl Cunningham among them. Temporary exhibitions run on a 3–4 month rotation and have brought in shows ranging from Picasso linocuts to Sally Mann photography. Admission is free, which makes the museum an easy hour or two on a downtown wander.

things to do museum architecture
A story
The 2008 building, by the Los Angeles architect Randall Stout, was meant to mark Roanoke's emergence as a regional cultural centre. The folded glass-and-steel exterior was openly modelled on Frank Gehry's work, and the museum's opening sparked vigorous local debate about whether the building fit a town built around brick warehouses and railway architecture. A decade later the answer seems to be: more or less.