The top museums opening in 2020 vary in design, but they have one thing in common: Each has been built and reconstructed with the goal of having its spaces first serve the art and artifacts within. From the much-anticipated Diller Scofidio + Renfro–designed U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum and Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs to London's beloved Museum of the Home (reopening this spring after a top-down, two-year overhaul), here are the design-forward museums debuting this year that are worth traveling for.

The exterior of the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center designed by Rand Elliott Architects is made of recycled aluminum to reflect the colors of the sky.

This dramatic four-story addition to downtown Oklahoma City, designed by Rand Elliott Architects , focuses on the play of light in the building. “The quality of light we have in Oklahoma is special,” says Elliott, who designed the recycled-aluminum exterior to let in as much sun as possible. “In the wintertime, you have orange sunrises, and the building reflects the color of the sky and becomes silvery-blue,” he adds, noting that because of this design, every visit to the museum will be unique. The institution supports all forms of contemporary art and will have educational programs including classes in ceramics, woodworking, sculpture, painting, and drawing. New digital media, multiple smaller galleries, and specialized spaces for the intersection of wellness and crafts make it a multidisciplinary venue. A 10,000-square-foot warehouse is dedicated to long-standing signature programs including ceramics. Admission is free; doors open mid-March. oklahomacontemporarrg

The new U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs is deemed the world’s most accessible museum.

This tribute museum to the Olympic and Paralympic movements, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro , provides a glimpse into the holistic journey of an athlete, with Team USA at the center of the story. “We take the same approach from the ancient Games to the modern Games today,” says Tommy Schield, the museum’s marketing and communications director. Team USA athletes were involved and consulted throughout the entire project; a good example of this collaboration is the Parade of Nations gallery. “Guests will walk through a 360-degree immersive digital experience and feel what it’s like to walk shoulder to shoulder with members of Team USA under our nation’s flag on the world’s largest stage,” says Schield. The building’s exterior features nearly 10,000 individual diamond panels, no two the same size or shape. All of the exhibits are permanent, except for one gallery that will change based on Olympic and Paralympic milestones. The $90 million museum is expected to open in May and is already considered the most accessible museum in the world. usopmrg

He Art Museum in China, designed by Pritzker Prize-winner Tadao Ando.

Taken from the words He meaning harmony and fortune, this new private museum opening in the Shunde district of China will focus on the country’s southern artistic culture. In particular, the Lingnan School, a style of painting by artists in the early 20th century found in the coastal provinces of Guangdong (Canton), Guangxi, and Hainan are in the spotlight. The museum, designed by Pritzker Prize-winner Tadao Ando, features architectural details manifesting in a variety of circles that form a ripple-like expansion. (The institution's opening date has been postponed indefinitely since this article's publication.) hemrg

A colossal statue of King Ramses II at the entrance of the Grand Egyptian Museum, still under construction in Giza. The museum will give visitors a spectacular view of the pyramids in the distance.

Located at the edge of the first desert plateau between the pyramids and Cairo, the Grand Egyptian Museum (also known as the Giza Museum), designed by the architectural firm Heneghan Peng , features a spectacular view of the Pyramids of Giza. A veil of translucent stone is one of the notable design features. Visitors enter through a stunning front court and ascend a grand staircase to the plateau level, which features an exhibition space the size of four football fields. The site includes a children’s museum and huge gardens, and visitors will be able to see the Tutankhamen collection in its entirety for the first time: more than 5,000 artifacts associated with British archaeologist Howard Carter's discovery of young King Tut’s tomb, including the king’s sandals. gem.gog

The Sphere, a futuristic-looking building designed by Renzo Piano, is part of the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in L.A.

In the heart of Hollywood, a shrine to all things film-related: The Academy Museum opens this year in 300,000 square feet of space in the Miracle Mile neighborhood. Museum director Kerry Brougher wanted to create a space that resembles watching a film “in which [characters] go inside the movies to experience their magic,” he says. Oscar-winning film production designer Rick Carter was tapped to help with the creative design, and Pritzker Prize—winning architect Renzo Piano designed the new futuristic-looking Sphere Building that sits beside the historic Saban Building, the latter a prime example of Streamline Moderne style. Visitors can enjoy 50,000 square feet of exhibits, two theaters, an outdoor piazza, a rooftop terrace, and an interactive education studio. academymuseumrg

Planet Word in Washington, D.C., will feature “The Spoken World.”

The strength of a democracy depends upon a literate population. That was the vision and thinking behind Washington, D.C.’s museum, which celebrates the way we all use words. The restored home of the museum, the National Historic Landmark Franklin School, will contain 11 immersive galleries, the largest of which will be “The Spoken World,” featuring activities with languages from 29 countries and two sign languages. Supervised by architects Beyer Blinder Belle and general contractor Whiting-Turner, the building (originally designed by Adolf Cluss) has undergone significant restoration. Some galleries will include virtual smart brushes that allow visitors to “paint” words. An outdoor interactive “Speaking Willow” light-and-sound sculptural installation takes the shape of an 18-foot weeping willow tree. Commissioned by the museum’s founder, Ann Friedman, it features 384 individually hanging speakers, each containing a sound archive of recordings in a distinct language. Interactive exhibits were designed in partnership with Local Projects; meanwhile, Nate Berkus Associates is consulting on the design of the gift shop. The museum officially opens on May 31. planetwordmuseumrg

A rendering of the archaeological museum Narbo Via in southern France.

The Roman port of Narbonne in southern France, one the oldest inhabited places in the world, boasts an impressive array of archaeological sites and buildings. A new landmark building designed by Foster + Partners will open this summer as the region’s Museum of Antiquities: an archaeological museum with a design inspired by formal French gardens and the Roman courtyard. More than 1,000 ancient stone relief funeral blocks that were discovered in the area will be on display, and visitors will be able to see events at an amphitheater. fosterandpartnerom

The Museum of the Home, set in the Geffrye Almshouses, Grade 1–listed 18th-century buildings and gardens.

After a two-year renovation, the Museum of the Home (formerly the Geffrye Museum) will reopen in May in London, exploring the ways we live and the many meanings of home through its displays. The redevelopment opens up spaces previously unseen by the public in the museum’s 100-year history, providing more collections with personal stories about home. There will be two permanent exhibits: One is “Rooms and Gardens Through Time,” a series of urban living rooms and gardens from 1600 to the present day (featuring 17th-century oak furniture and paneling, muted Georgian elegance, and the eclectic Victorian style). A rotating exhibit, the “Room of Now,” is curated by collaborators to reflect contemporary forms of living. Period furnishings are found throughout the various galleries. “Two rare pieces in our collections that spring to mind include a 16th-century set of pewter plates salvaged from a shipwreck off the Caribbean coast, and a highly decorative ebony curiosity cabinet that was bought by Mary Evelyn in 1652 for her husband, the celebrated author and diarist John Evelyn,” says director Sonia Solicari. Admission is free. museumofthehomerg.uk

The three-story “Dream Machine” slide at the entrance of the new Children’s Museum in Washington, D.C.

“There’s a magical moment of entry as soon as visitors enter the front door,” says Crystal Bowyer, the museum’s president and CEO. The “Dream Machine” gives children a chance to let off steam by climbing from the ground floor up three stories and sliding down. With 20,000 square feet of exhibition space, the museum features plenty of rooms including permanent and temporary exhibits (for February, the temporary exhibit is Dora the Explorer ). Great design is everywhere: The “Tinkerers Studio” has laser and vinyl cuttings; an “Innovation Sandbox” is a digital interactive space that changes content every few years; and characters like SpongeBob SquarePants and PAW Patrol are on hand in virtual activities, in partnership with Nickelodeon. “There’s no barrier to entry for anyone coming to the museum,” says Bowyer, “and we work with Amazon with community partner organizations to reach families that they service,” she adds. nationalchildrensmuseumrg

The Mercer Museum at Capricorn houses two recording studios.

The birthplace of Southern rock had its reopening celebration on December 2, 2019, in connection with the 50th anniversary of the founding of Capricorn Records and Capricorn Sound Studios. Curator and archivist Jared Wright says, “Capricorn Records was home to a group of artists who produced music of the unassuming, unpolished, down-home type; music that was full of Freedom; music that embodied the region of its production; music that was made far away from industry centers like Los Angeles, New York, or even Atlanta.” The founders of the museum saw that the roots of rock could be traced back to the South, and the studio paved the way for musicians to come: The explosion of the jam-band scene in the late 1990s/early 2000s can be directly traced back to Capricorn Records. The deteriorating building changed hands a number of times, and it is currently owned by Mercer University, whose president, Bill Underwood, agreed to restore the studios. The architect Bob Brown researched historic photos of the four-building complex, which dates back to 1880, to restore the façade to its original appearance. Visitors can expect to find correspondence, photos, recordings, interviews, album art, and two recording studios. Admission is $7; an optional studio tour is $5. capricornercerdu

A photo of the facade of the Roots 101 African American Museum in Kentucky.

Opening in February is a new museum that will tell the story of the African American journey from Africa and all ports in between. The four-story museum overlooks the Ohio River, which is “symbolic because many African Americans crossed that river from Indiana,” says museum director Lamont Collins. The museum, called Roots 101, is a nod to the entry-level college course, and takes you on an educational journey. “There is no other place that tells the story of the descendants of kings and queens that were enslaved,” adds Collins. Exhibits include art and artifacts from artists including Joseph Holston, Sam Gilliam, and Ed Hamilton; a “Derogatory Images” section will include mammy dolls and minstrel shows. The museum also focuses on uplifting aspects of African American history, including Motown. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children. roots-101rg

The redesigned Kyocera Museum of Art is one of Japan's biggest museum openings this year.

A much-anticipated museum reopening in Japan this year is the Kyocera Museum of Art, which opened in 1933 in the city’s Okazaki district. It is the nation’s oldest public art museum housed in its original structure. The redesign, supervised by two Japanese architects, Aoki Jun and Nishizawa Tezzo, will house a “Higashiyama Cube” exhibition space with a new Andy Warhol Kyoto exhibit in late 2020; new galleries for its permanent collection of works by Kyoto artists; and a café, gift shop, and Japanese garden. kyotocity-kyocerauseum

An aerial view of the new WAG Inuit Art Centre.

With the 250th anniversary of Manitoba this year, this new art center that extends the Winnipeg Art Gallery shares the largest public collection of Inuit art in the world. It includes over 13,000 carvings, prints, textiles, and new media. A three-story glass vault, the first of its kind in North America, shows over 7,000 Inuit carvings and can be seen even from the street. The art center opens in November. inuiaga

The restored Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum houses art and artifacts from the Great Basin tribes.

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Originally a school dedicated to Native American education, this museum, which focuses on the art and artifacts of the Great Basin tribes, opened on January 13. Supervised by a cultural advisory committee, the museum depicts the storytelling and craft-making techniques of the Washoe, Paiute, and Western Shoshone tribes. Housed in a stone structure that dates back to 1923, the museum is just one of the 65 stone buildings that comprised the 110-acre campus of the Indian School; the rest of the historic buildings will be renovated over time. Visitors can expect to find contemporary Native American art as well as several rotating annual exhibitions. Admission is free. stewartindianschoolom