In Good Company

On May 16 the Art Institute of Chicago becomes the latest museum to flaunt a wing by Renzo Piano. As with many of the Pritzker Prize winner’s projects, harnessing natural light was central to the LEED-registered design. An aluminum sunscreen, dubbed the “flying carpet,” canopies much of the new glass structure, helping to illuminate the galleries and shading the garden court. And a 620-foot-long steel bridge will stretch from the museum to Millennium Park—that other architectural landmark.