Museum of Glass, Glass museum in Tacoma, United States

The Museum of Glass is a 75,000-square-foot contemporary art museum on the Thea Foss Waterway in Tacoma. Its hot shop is housed in a 100-foot-diameter cone clad in 2,800 diamond-shaped stainless steel panels, inspired by the wood beehive burners of former sawmills. A concrete stairway spirals around the exterior, and three rimless reflecting pools sit on the terraces.

The museum opened in 2002 as part of a major waterfront renewal project in Tacoma. This development plan converted a former industrial site into a cultural hub for the city.

The museum's hot shop lets visitors watch resident artists blow glass in a 7,000-square-foot studio with two furnaces reaching 1,320°C. The Kids Design Glass program, running since 2009, turns children's drawings into glass sculptures. The Chihuly Bridge of Glass, designed with Dale Chihuly, carries the Venetian Wall, Seaform Pavilion and Crystal Towers.

The museum sits on the Thea Foss Waterway, linked to downtown Tacoma by the Chihuly Bridge of Glass. The hot shop cone rises 100 feet (30 m) and measures 100 feet across at its base. The building covers 75,000 square feet, with 13,000 square feet of galleries.

The Chihuly Bridge of Glass, designed by Arthur Erickson with Dale Chihuly, links the museum to downtown Tacoma. Its 500-foot span holds thousands of Chihuly glass pieces, including the Venetian Wall, Seaform Pavilion and Crystal Towers, so the walk between city and museum is part of the collection.