Today is a day for big reveals at Bloomfield Hills' Cranbrook Art Museum. The grand opening will show off updates to Eliel Saarinen's 1942 museum that include a restoration to 8,000 square feet of galleries; the building has been closed for construction for the last two and a half years. The the $22 million building project also included the addition of a 20,000-square-foot Collections Wing. Must be kind of daunting to design in the shadow of a Saarinen, no? Project architect Paul Urbanek's described the experience of adding to the landmark as "unnerving," and went on to explain that his approach was "don't screw up what's there."
· Cranbrook Art Museum reopens with design exhibit [The Detroit News]
· $22-million expansion lets Cranbrook Art Museum put its entire collection on view [Freep]