MAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Art

This guide to the MAXXI museum in Rome starts with the 1998 competition to redesign an old Rome barracks, in which architect Zaha Hadid beat out finalists including Rem Koolhaas and Jean Nouvel with a design of five curving, interlinked buildings. You'll hear how Italian politics stalled the project for over a decade and how much of Hadid's original vision made it into the building that finally opened in 2010. Look up at the black steel staircase suspended above the main hall.