If you’re driving down Grand River Avenue in East Lansing, you can’t miss it. Honestly, it looks like a stainless steel accordion that fell out of the sky and landed right on the edge of Michigan State University’s campus. People call it the spaceship. Some call it an eyesore. But mostly, people just call it the MSU Broad Art Museum. It’s a jagged, pleated, shimmering anomaly in a sea of red brick collegiate gothic architecture.
Design matters. Zaha Hadid, the legendary "Queen of the Curve" and the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize, designed this thing. It was one of her final projects before she passed away in 2016. If you've ever seen her work in London or Baku, you know she didn't do "subtle." She did gravity-defying. She did "how is that building even standing up?"
The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum—the full name is a mouthful—is basically a case study in how architecture can force you to change your perspective. Literally. Inside, there are almost no right angles. None. If you're the type of person who needs a level floor and 90-degree corners to feel sane, walking through the galleries might make you feel a little sea-sick at first. It’s intentional.
The Man Behind the Money: Eli Broad’s Vision
You can't talk about this place without talking about Eli Broad. He was an MSU alum, a billionaire who built two Fortune 500 companies, and a guy who obsessed over contemporary art. He and his wife Edythe gave $28 million to get this project off the ground. That’s a lot of cash for a university museum.
But it wasn't just a vanity project. Broad wanted Michigan to have a world-class venue for contemporary art that rivaled anything in New York or LA. He wanted something that would "shake people up."
Mission accomplished, Eli.
The museum opened in 2012, and since then, it has functioned as a weird, beautiful bridge between the university and the city. It’s not just for students. It’s for anyone who wants to look at a piece of art and go, "I don't get it," and then spend an hour figuring out why they don't get it. That’s the whole point of contemporary art, right? It’s a conversation. Sometimes it’s a confusing one.
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That Exterior: What’s With the Metal?
The "skin" of the MSU Broad Art Museum is made of pleated stainless steel. It’s not just for show. The pleats are angled to reflect the light differently depending on the time of day and the season. In the winter, under a grey Michigan sky, it looks cold and industrial. In the summer, at sunset, it glows.
Hadid designed the building to follow "directional lines" from the surrounding landscape. The paths that students take to get to class, the layout of the streets, the flow of traffic—all of that is baked into the geometry of the building.
It's sharp.
It's aggressive.
It's weirdly inviting once you get used to it.
Inside, the light is weirdly perfect. Because of the way the "louvers" (those big metal slats) are positioned, the galleries get plenty of natural light without the sun blasting the artwork. It’s a technical marvel that most people just ignore because they’re too busy trying to figure out if the floor is actually sloping. (Spoiler: Some of them are.)
What Actually Happens Inside Those Slanted Walls?
People think contemporary art museums are just places where people stand around looking at a blank canvas or a pile of bricks. And sure, sometimes it’s that. But the MSU Broad Art Museum does a lot more than just hang weird paintings.
They have a massive collection—over 10,000 objects. It’s not all new stuff, either. They’ve got Greek and Roman antiquities, medieval manuscripts, and Old Master paintings. But the focus is definitely on the "now."
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One of the coolest things they do is the "Art Lab." It’s located across the street in a separate space and is way more hands-on. It’s less "don’t touch the art" and more "let’s make something together." They host workshops, community events, and even yoga sessions.
Recent Exhibitions That Actually Mattered
- Field Station: This is an ongoing series where they give a solo show to an emerging artist. It’s like a laboratory for new ideas.
- Zaha Hadid Design: They’ve done retrospectives on the architect herself, showing how her sketches turned into these massive steel structures.
- Social Justice Themes: They don't shy away from politics. They’ve had exhibits on immigration, climate change, and racial equity that sparked some pretty heated—and necessary—debates in East Lansing.
The curators here, like Steven L. Bridges, don't just pick "pretty" things. They pick things that make you think about the world. Sometimes that means looking at a video installation of someone brushing their teeth for ten minutes. Other times, it's a massive sculpture made of recycled plastic.
The Logistics: Planning Your Visit Without the Stress
If you’re going to visit, here’s the deal. Admission is free. Always. That was a big part of the mission—making sure art wasn't behind a paywall.
Parking in East Lansing is a nightmare. Everyone knows this. Your best bet is the Grand River parking ramp or finding a spot on a side street if you’re feeling lucky. If you're a student, just walk. If you're coming from out of town, maybe grab a coffee at Blue Owl first. You're gonna need the caffeine to process some of the abstract stuff.
The museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Don't be the person who pulls on the locked glass doors while everyone inside stares at you.
- Hours: Generally 10 AM to 6 PM, but check the website before you go because they change things up for special events.
- Tours: You can get a guided tour, which I highly recommend if you want to understand why the stairs are shaped like that.
- The Shop: Honestly, the gift shop is killer. Great books, weird jewelry, and stuff that looks like the building.
Why Some People Hate It (And Why They're Wrong)
Let's be real. A lot of locals think the building is "too much." They think it clashes with the ivy-covered brick of the rest of MSU. They think it's a "white elephant."
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But here’s the thing: art is supposed to provoke a reaction. If everyone just walked by and said, "Oh, that’s a nice building," then Zaha Hadid failed. The fact that people have such strong opinions about the MSU Broad Art Museum means it's doing its job. It’s a landmark. It’s a point of reference. "Meet me by the spaceship" is a phrase every MSU student knows.
It forces the university to look forward, not just backward. It’s a reminder that Michigan isn't just about the auto industry or football; it’s a place where global-level culture happens.
Practical Steps for Your Trip
Don't just walk in, look at three things, and leave. To actually get value out of this place, you have to engage with it.
- Start from the outside. Walk all the way around the building. Watch how the reflections change as you move. It’s an optical illusion in slow motion.
- Talk to the Docents. The people working there are usually art history students or total art nerds. Ask them, "What’s the deal with this piece?" They won't judge you. They love explaining the weird stuff.
- Check the "Broad Pop-Up" schedule. They often have events in the city that aren't even in the building.
- Take photos, but look with your eyes first. The angles make for great Instagram shots, but if you only see it through your phone screen, you miss the scale of the thing.
- Go to the second floor. The views of campus through those slanted windows are some of the best in the city.
The MSU Broad Art Museum isn't just a museum. It's an experiment. It’s a challenge to the idea that a university in the middle of Michigan has to be traditional. Go there with an open mind. Even if you leave still thinking it looks like a crashed UFO, you’ll at least have something to talk about at dinner.
Architecture should make us feel something. Even if that "something" is just a slight sense of vertigo while looking at a contemporary sculpture.
If you're in the Lansing area, just go. It's free, it's weird, and it's one of the most significant buildings in the Midwest. You don't have to "get" it to appreciate that it exists.
Next time you're on Grand River, stop. Park the car. Walk in. Look up. The spaceship is waiting.