Milwaukee is not alone. A 2006 survey by the American Association of Museums found that 50 percent of responding museums had begun or completed construction, renovation, or expansion in the previous three years.
They include Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, which is in the middle of a $500 million fund-raising campaign for its expansion project, designed by the British firm Foster and Partners and slated for completion in 2010.
The boom is partly due to museum officials who recognize that using name architects for expansions helps attract tourists, according to association spokesman Jason Hall. Also, it is easier for museums to get donors for capital improvements than operating expenses because donors like having their names attached to the work.
The Museum of Modern Art in New York hired Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi to design an addition that opened last fall.
In San Francisco, the de Young Museum's addition opened in 2005, designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and Fong & Chan Architects in San Francisco. The Denver Art Museum commissioned American architect Daniel Libeskind for an addition that opened last fall.
Milwaukee's addition took four years to build and cost $130 million. Attendance grew 43 percent from the year before the expansion to 2006. The museum estimated the economic impact on the city increased over that time by 44 percent to $20.1 million.
Lance Jay Brown, a distinguished professor at The City College of New York's School of Architecture, Urban Design, and Landscape Architecture, said Milwaukee declared its commitment to culture with the structure.
"You don't have to go through the front door. All you have to do is come upon that building and see it and you know something exciting is happening in the city of Milwaukee," he said.
About 50 people gathered around noon recently for the daily opening and closing of the museum's moveable, winglike sunscreen, composed of 72 steel fins.
Mayor Tom Barrett said it has become the city's unofficial symbol -- used in marketing and in national television and print advertisements. It spurred nearby projects, including the Discovery World museum, a state park, and two new high-rises.
