Royal Museum of Fine Arts · Antwerp, Belgium

Visitors can enjoy a promenade surrounded by art, as well as the exterior landscape experienced through multiple lookouts over the city and inner patios. KAAN Architecten has been working on the 100 million euro renovation since the early 2000s, which includes hiding a minimalist wing within the existing 19th-century structure. Only visible from the inside, the new building aims to preserve the integrity of the original building, and is made up of a sequence of bright white exhibition halls with glossy floors and marble details. Guests can either walk through the original exhibition rooms tinted in dark pink, green and red; with oak doors, tall columns, and ceiling ornaments conveying a grandeur—or head the other direction, straight towards the new wing. “The experience is never predictable yet always in balance: both routes are challenging and designed to serve the art,” explains a statement from the firm. In addition to being one of the last examples of bold neoclassical architecture in the city, the museum’s collections embrace seven centuries of art: from Flemish Primitives and expressionists, to paintings, sculptures, and drawings.