"The Future: The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum" will be on display at the Art Museum at MSU in Kresge Art Center until Oct. 14.
The five proposed designs will be available for viewing, along with some 3-D video tours and poster board displays.
Susan Bandes, director of the museum, will host a guided tour of the five presentations at 5:30 p.m. today. Admission is free, and the tour is expected to last for about 45 minutes.
Source: The Art Museum at MSU
The Art Museum at MSU, formerly Kresge Art Museum, wants to help catch up those who weren't around for the summer — in an exhibit featuring the five possible designs for the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum will be on display until Oct. 14.
After a $26 million donation from the Broads, an architectural competition was held to design MSU's new world-class museum, which will be located at the current site of the Paolucci Building.
Five architects from around the world took part in the competition, and their designs were revealed July 18 before an audience and a jury.
Now, their models are on display to give the MSU and East Lansing community a taste of what's to come, said Mariah Cherem, the events and communications coordinator for the art museum.
"For those who have already been to the competition, this gives them an up-close-and-personal version," she said. "And for those who weren't around for the summer, this will catch them up and get them up to speed on exciting things that were happening."
The displays don't stop with just sculptures of the potential new museums — there are display boards, CD presentations and 3-D walk-throughs of some of the buildings.
Photos of the actual day of the competition also are on display for visitors.
If that is not enough, Susan Bandes, director of the art museum, will be hosting guided tours of the designs at 5:30 p.m. today.
Admission is free and the tour is expected to last about 45 minutes, Bandes said.
Cherem said the winner of the architectural competition — chosen by a panel of jurors — isn't expected to be announced until later in the fall.
Groundbreaking for the site is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2009, and the museum is expected to be finished in 2010, according a poster at the art museum.
Although the public doesn't have a direct say in the final choice, that doesn't mean they have to be out of the loop.
"(The exhibit) gives people an opportunity to take a look at all of the designs and find out what elements they really like," Cherem said.
Gyul John Ra did just that.
The advertising junior said he took a look at the designs online but didn't realize the intricacies of them until after a visit to the museum.
"They're way over my head," Ra said about the designs.
He couldn't pick a favorite but said he trusted the judges to make the right choice. "Any of these would be amazing," Ra said. "I'm sure I'll visit even after I graduate."
