Building a Museum: This is not a Manual

Building a Museum is a comprehensive guide designed to assist museum professionals in navigating the complex process of planning, designing, and constructing a museum. 

In it, seasoned design professionals from the award-winning integrated design firm SmithGroup condense their decades of experience guiding numerous cultural institutions through successful projects, emphasizing best practices in organizing a capital project and offering suggestions to keep projects moving toward completion. Building a Museum is a user-friendly tool for museum leaders to easily understand every aspect of the building process and includes intuitive graphics and a handy glossary for common terms. It encourages readers to rethink the traditional approaches and embrace forward-thinking and collegial strategies that could revolutionize their projects. Collaboration and inclusivity in the process is encouraged, with an emphasis on the importance of building a strong network and leveraging professional connections.

Building a Museum draws on the authors' decade of conducting workshops on the museum capital project process, refining their content based on feedback from over 300 museum leaders, board members, administrators, curators, and facilities professionals. The book aims to demystify the planning and design process, making it accessible and practical for museum professionals at any stage of their project.

Jamē Anderson is a vice president and director of SmithGroup's national team of architects, planners, and engineers who focus exclusively on cultural capital projects. Her career is dedicated to cultural institutions, having held roles at the National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian Institution in addition to her tenure at SmithGroup.

Monteil Crawley is a senior principal at SmithGroup and a leading expert in the design of museums and cultural facilities, shaping a unique design vision for each facility and institution. He has spent his career with SmithGroup designing prominent spaces and places that celebrate and reveal the history and culture of the United States.

Sarah Ghorbanian is a principal at SmithGroup who specializes in the planning and project management of complex cultural projects. She is an expert at coordinating the intersection of architecture and exhibition design to create compelling, holistic, and engaging experiences for museum audiences.

Chris Wood is a vice president at SmithGroup and leads the firm's Washington, D.C., studio of design and engineering specialists devoted to cultural projects. He leads design teams for cultural capital projects of all scales and is a recognized expert in the planning and design of museums and collections facilities.