TOO MODERN?

This is the Broad Art Museum (sounds like ‘road’) at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, completed in the summer of 2013. This 46,000 sq. ft. ultra-modern building is made of pleated stainless steel and glass. It has many angles and seems to lean in many directions - like an optical illusion. Unfortunately, it was built on a very small lot, too close to a traditional brick building on one end and tight within two main streets on the sides – basically, there is hardly any land around it. (Three other views of this museum are on Flickr to show more detail.) I admit I’m not a fan of this building, but it is interesting.

The entire MSU campus consists of classic brick buildings, so this particular design really stands out like a sore thumb (in my opinion). I do think its appearance could have been improved many times over if it had been built on a larger piece of land. (To get an idea of its size, you can see some doors in the lower right corner.) Today, with heavy grey skies, wasn’t the best day for showing the best of this grey building. I’d like to return again on a spring day with blue skies and green grass – that may help.