About the Building
About the Building
At the MSU Broad Art Museum, we’re built upon fostering community through art.
Following an international competition in 2007, Zaha Hadid was chosen as the architect for the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University. Construction began in 2010, and we opened our doors on November 10, 2012. At the time of opening, our building was Hadid’s first on a university campus and only her second project in the United States.
Hadid designed with our campus, our communities, and our landscape in mind. Recognizing its unique location on the edge of campus, she wanted the building to welcome you to MSU.
Responding to the museum’s location between MSU and East Lansing, Hadid thought about how people traveled between parts of campus and the city. To visually represent this transition, she developed “movement lines”. These lines were built into the vertical lines that define the museum’s steel exterior, which continue onto and across the roof. Hadid chose a specific type of refractive steel for the exterior that would interact with Michigan’s vibrant landscape and seasons. Her attention to material and location engages our building with our environment and communities.
Hadid was inspired by our various surrounding landscapes when designing the dynamic height of the museum. The eastern entrance of the museum starts lower, responding to the natural wooded area along Farm Lane. As you travel west, the building grows to our iconic western window in line with Berkey Hall and the cityscape. This inclined window faces Grand River Avenue, connecting the Minksoff Gallery to East Lansing.
This community-minded design approach continues inside as well. Hadid designed multi-purpose gathering spaces alongside the galleries. In many places throughout the museum, the galleries allow you to peer into other areas, further connecting one’s museum experience to the community. The museum is responsive to our visitors, even the iconic floating staircase shifts as you travel our three levels.
Today, the MSU Broad Art Museum is one of three art museums in the world by Hadid and one of only four buildings by her in the United States. Hadid believed art and museums should be accessible to everyone, just like us at the MSU Broad Art Museum.