Punta della Dogana

This guide to Punta della Dogana in Venice follows the twenty years its triangular customs house sat empty under a golden globe held by figures of Atlas, and the French billionaire Francois Pinault, whose plan for a private museum near Paris had just collapsed in two thousand four. You'll hear how the city opened a tender to save the crumbling building in two thousand seven, and why Pinault chose the architect Tadao Ando, known for raw concrete and quiet drama, to remake it. Ando spent over a year here stripping the old brick and timber trusses down to their bones.