Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland by Farshid Moussavi.

Sitting like a peculiar, precision-made machine part, with its black polished stainless steel, the newly completed Museum of Contemporary Art in Ohio, USA  is open. It is a non-collecting museum whose task is to inspire creativity and growth in the city of Cleveland and beyond. Farshid Moussavi Architecture's scheme is a four storey building that sits on a hexagonal base rising to a square at the top. There is an associated plaza that will also become an important community focus. Because the museum is non-collecting, it does not need traditional galleries to hold the collection. Therefore, its emphasis is on flexibility. Exhibits can be displayed in ways that vary according to the media, and the individual piece. There is something of a metaphor here for the creation of the dynamic, creative, and responsive society that the museum seeks to inspire! Foreign Office Architects created a thrill with their Yokahama International Port Terminal. But in 2009 the practice split. It was not a good day for architecture and did not seem to bode well for the profession at a time when it was facing the effects of the global financial meltdown. News that Farshid Moussavi, who was one of FOA's founders, has completed this new museum is warmly welcomed, and many will hope, marks a resurgence of the profession. Gratitude to the RIBA Journal.