Fotografiska Set to Become the World’s Largest Private Art Museum—With Help From Rockwell Group, Herzog & de Meuron, and Neri&Hu

ProjectFotografiska Set to Become the World’s Largest Private Art Museum—With Help From Rockwell Group, Herzog & de Meuron, and Neri&HuThe Swedish photography museum has announced new outposts in Miami, Berlin, and Shanghai

By Katherine McGrath

November 29, 2021

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Fotografiska is expanding once again. The Swedish photography museum has just announced plans for three new spaces in Miami, Shanghai, and Berlin, set to open between 2022 and 2023. Upon completion, the non-collecting institution will be the largest private art museum in the world, both in terms of the number of locations and square footage but also the number of shows staged per year (the museum showcases works on film on loan from collectors, other institutions, and, in some cases, directly from the artists themselves).

A rendering of Fotografiska in Miami, designed by Rockwell Group.

Rendering courtesy Rockwell Group and Fotografiska

The courtyard for Fotografiska in Miami, designed by Rockwell Group.

The Miami location, set to open in mid-to-late 2023, will make its home in Allapattah, adjacent to the Rubell Museum and across from Superblue. Architect David Rockwell of AD100 firm Rockwell Group has been tapped to transform the 1943-built former factory into Miami’s latest arts destination. 

“The massive rectangular structure is a wonderful blank canvas in which we are creating a maze of layered planes,” Rockwell tells AD PRO. “We set out to create an environment that would attract and invite people to discover new works of art throughout the entirety of the space. We also want Fotografiska to serve as a generator and opportunity for the Allapattah neighborhood—an engaging, stimulating place for residents and visitors to gather and build community.”

A rendering of the planned Fotografiska in Berlin. Herzog & de Meuron will be the architects for the project, and Studio Aisslinger will design the interiors.

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Over in Berlin, Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron and local Studio Aisslinger will be rehabilitating the historic former Kunsthaus Tacheles, with the grand opening also planned for 2022. The five-story space was built in 1908 and in its most recent iteration was an artists’ haven, taken over by creatives after the fall of the Berlin Wall. At one point it housed a bar, a theater, an events space, and studios that accommodated more than 100 artists, who would sell their works directly out of their studios to anyone who wandered in.

And in Shanghai, local firm Neri&Hu, known for its ability to seamlessly fuse historical buildings with modernity, will transform a former warehouse complex into the city's latest cultural institution.

As with the museum’s previous buildings, Fotografiska’s new outposts will be housed within spaces that are either historically or architecturally significant—an intentional choice on the institution’s behalf. The expansion comes on the heels of Fotografiska’s merger earlier this year with coworking and social club space Neuehouse to form a new parent company, CultureWorks.

A rendering of Fotografiska Shanghai, which will be handled by Neri&Hu.

Rendering courtesy Fotografiska

“Fotografiska is committed to collaborating with the most innovative architectural firms working today,” says Josh Wyatt, CEO and cofounder of Cultureworks. “Each museum project aims to balance adaptive reuse with forward-thinking innovation. Importantly, our museums are about deeply visual, creative, and experiential moments grounded within photography. [The firms chosen] vibrantly represent and deliver upon these ideals.”