The Museum of Modern Art in Gunma, surrounded by parkland, is the most complete realization by Isozaki of a conceptual approach to museum design. The Clore Gallery, London, was built to house the Tate Gallery’s superb collection of paintings by J M W Turner, while the Tate in Liverpool was created out of a magnificent 1845 dockside warehouse; both are examined here within the context of Stirling & Wilford’s ?uvre at the time of construction. James Ingo Freed’s United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is one of the late twentieth century’s most profound architectural statements, managing subtly and symbolically to disengage itself from the city where is stands. By considering these museums together, the reader can examine the varying approaches taken by different architectural practices in separate continents to meeting the challenges of adventurous museum commissions.