Nearly eight years after selecting Steven Holl's ambitious expansion concept, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is preparing to officially open the completed structure to the public on Saturday, November 21.

Dedicated to the collection of modern and contemporary art, the new 237,000-sf Nancy and Rich Kinder Building houses galleries, seven garden courtyards, a 215-seat theater, two pedestrian tunnels, a parking arrival hall, conference rooms, a restaurant overlooking the Isamu Noguchi sculpture garden, a cafe, and a triple-story forum.

"The Texas sky opens 180°overhead above a luminous canopy covering the new building," explains the architects' project description. "Concave curves, imagined from cloud circles, push down on the roof geometry, allowing natural light to slip in with precise measure and quality, perfect for top-lit galleries. Organized horizontally on two levels, all galleries have natural light and are flexible with open flow."

"The undersides of the curved ceiling become light reflectors, catching and sliding the light across each distinct gallery experience. These curved slices of light shape the gallery spaces in a unique way related to the organic qualities of the lush vegetation and water that characterize the new campus. Rather than mechanical and repetitive, the light is flowing, echoing the movement through the galleries."

"The open flow through galleries is punctuated by views into the seven gardens with green trellises offering shade from glare. The galleries are centered around an open forum. The central gallery atrium provides generous spaces for the exhibition of art and vertical circulation to the upper floors."

"The 237,000-square-foot Kinder Building adds a horizontal architecture in translucent glass to the museum’s collection of stone (1924), steel and glass (1958, 1974), and stone (2000) buildings. Its innovative glass-tube facade has a soft, alabaster-like texture."

"The 30-inch tubes of glass open at the top and bottom, providing a 'cold jacket' which reduces solar gain by 70% on the facades via the chimney effect of air circulation. At night, the glowing translucent facade is reflected in the water gardens and provides an open invitation to enter the museum."

Watch the museum's director, Gary Tinterow, tour the new building in this video, and dig into architectural drawings in the image gallery below.