Best of the Modern Wing

It won’t compete with the art. The Art Institute hypes Piano’s starchitect status, and the Modern Wing echoes his other buildings in its treatment of light and attention to sustainability. But the Modern Wing’s subtle design doesn’t overshadow its contents, as Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao does, and it isn’t a self-conscious “signature” project that will seem dated before it’s finished, like the Pritzker Pavilion. Yeah, we said it.