Dedicated to showing photography, Stockholm’s new Fotografiska challenges the dominance of other cities’ photo institutes in more ways than one. Housed in an Art Nouveau-style industrial building from 1906, Ferdinand Boberg designed the imposing building.

Now designated as a building of cultural significance, the structure posed more than its fair share of architectural restrictions. Torsten Nobling and Markus Hahn at AIX Architects, handled the 2,500 square-meter gallery space, and Jani Kristofferson and Andreas Ferm from Guise created the shop and bar.

In terms of shows, Chief Curator, Ebba de Faire, will stage four major exhibitions a year, kicking off this week with a 190-photograph collection from Annie Leibovitz titled “A Photographer’s Life, 1990-2005.”

In conjunction, Fotografiska will install between 15-20 minor exhibitions each year alongside a program of talks, symposiums and the growing acquisition of the gallery’s own permanent collection. It’s a fine example of private investment working alongside munincipal funding to further the options for visitors and locals.

Read the original blog post here on PSFK.