Boos for the Big House

continued

“It’s going to be big, certainly,” agrees Strickland, “and with Corner House Lofts, it’s going to bring a lot more activity at that end of State Street. Stern’s buildings are highly controversial because of their overt associations with the past. But the courtyard building is a very strong type, and it’s going to define Huron and State, as well as the opening toward campus, in a highly positive way.”

Along with Biomedical Science, the other project that everyone on our panel loves is the $42 million restoration and expansion of the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Even the often-dour Luckenbach finds the project “exciting, precisely because it’s going to challenge people with a new experience of architecture.”

“People are excited by that building,” echoes John Mouat, “and rightly so, because it’s so radical. But if you look at it in relation to the original building, it’s not really radical. In fact, it actually works nicely in the context of the original building.”

“When I first saw the drawings, I hated it,” admits Rueter. “But when I saw the model, I liked it—a lot. And now that it’s almost done, I can say I think I’m going to like that building.”