A DELICATE BALANCE.(architect Tadao Ando's new building for Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX)

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth is an architectural masterpiece. It was completed in 1972, just two years before its designer, Louis Kahn, died, and it has become probably the most revered museum design of the second half of the twentieth century. The Kimbell isn't very large, but a move to expand it a few years ago was beaten back by those who believe that Kahn's composition of travertine walls and concrete vaults washed by natural light is so close to perfect that it should be left alone.

In 1996, the trustees of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth acquired an eleven-acre site across the street from the Kimbell and commissioned the Japanese architect Tadao ...