With the opening of the Center, Asia Society takes its place as a major educational and cultural institution in the region, the driving force in transforming Houston into an Asia-Pacific city.

For his first freestanding building in the United States – previously he was best known in this country for his expansion and renovation of the Museum of Modern Art in New York – Taniguchi combined graceful design with stunningly beautiful stone, wood and glass to give Asia Society Texas Center its distinctive character.

American Cherry Wood provides the wall paneling in the Fayez Sarofim Grand Hall and the Brown Foundation Performing Arts Theater.

The Education Department staff provide tours of the exhibitions in the Louisa Stude Sarofim Gallery, PowerPoint presentations emphasizing important information about Asian art, culture, geography, and politics, explanation of the Texas Center and its unique architecture, and art-making activities in the Edward Rudge Aleen III Education Center.

The Asia Society Texas Center Educator Night series combines a two-hour workshop with a performing or visual arts experience.

Designed for K–12 and university instructors, these trainings give educators a greater understanding of Asian art, culture, economics, government, music, and theater.

Held at Asia Society Texas Center throughout the year, Family Days give audiences of all ages the chance to learn more about Asian culture through demonstrations, exhibits, performances, and storytelling.

They host business leaders, diplomats, government officials, and policy experts addressing the whole range of public issues affecting Asia and the rest of the world.

They convene and connect, providing Houston business, academic, and civil leaders, as well as the interested general public, with useful, thought-provoking analysis of developments in Asia that impact Texas and the Gulf Coast region.