‘Fresh Start’ for Michigan State U. Museum Estimated at 300% Over Budget

Zaha Hadid’s winning design for a new art museum at Michigan State U. had too little space for paintings—and cost way too much. (Michigan State U. image)

The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor reopened its expanded Museum of Art last weekend with a 24-hour celebration. But things aren’t going so well over in Lansing, where Michigan State University’s plan to build a sleek, 41,000-square-foot museum designed by the architect Zaha Hadid has run into all kinds of trouble, according to an engaging account in The State News.

For starters, what was supposed to be a $40-million project — with a $26-million contribution from the philanthropist Eli Broad, an alumnus — was at one point estimated at a whopping $160-million, according to the university’s president, Lou Anna K. Simon. The university’s associate provost for academic services, Linda Stanford, told the News that the design was being changed and that it would indeed end up “close to $40-million.”

Meanwhile, contractors were studying Ms. Hadid’s plans for the museum — which would be as angular as a stealth fighter jet’s wings and have a skin of aluminum and glass — and throwing up their hands, more or less. “These guys all came back with, ‘I don’t really want to do this,’ or ‘This is too high for me to even price,’” said John E. Dingens, an instructor in the university’s School of Planning, Design & Construction who has used plans for the building for student projects in his courses. To make matters worse, Mr. Dingens said, the building’s pleated roof might have to be heated in the winter to keep snow and ice from accumulating in the pleats’ folds. Heating the roof wouldn’t be impossible, he said, but he added: “It’s very difficult, very expensive.”

Even that isn’t the end of the problems. Mr. Dingens said Ms. Hadid’s firm was tweaking the plans because the building, as designed, didn’t have enough gallery space for paintings — which was, after all, the point. “The architect,” Mr. Dingens said, “gets to go back to the drawing board with a fresh start.”