Museum of Applied Arts

The Museum of Applied Arts in Frankfurt hides behind the cream-colored walls of the eighteenth-century Metzler Mansion, though a modern glass addition wraps around it like a translucent shell. Architect Richard Meier designed this complex in the nineteen eighties, stitching historical architecture to minimalist, white-grid modernism. Before the museum arrived, the site held a family estate, but today it houses thousands of craft objects ranging from medieval books to contemporary design prototypes that define our everyday lives.