It looks like a Lego fantasy come to life. Checkerboard walls made from steel shipping containers and towering columns of recycled paper tubes shape a "nomadic" museum -- created to showcase a photography exhibit -- which can be rebuilt to fit whatever space is available.
Shipping walls: Photographer Gregory Colbert commissioned Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, known for his work with recyclable materials and moveable structures, to build a museum that would travel with his "Ashes and Snow" photography exhibit and reflect his eco-sensibilities. Thirty-seven of the museum's 148 shipping containers transport the exhibit materials; the rest are rented on location.
Sacred space: Inside, Colbert's large-scale photographs of humans communing with wildlife are suspended in midair along a central wooden walkway through the cathedral-like enclosure.
Next stop: Having completed Manhattan's successful Pier 54 show in June, the museum is headed to the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles (Dec-Feb), then on to the Vatican next summer. Visit AshesAndSnow.com for more information.
-Vivienne Jannatpour