Dome

Raking view of steps, portico and the library wing, left; In Saarinen's designs for the Cranbrook campus he was able to combine a dedication to a craft-based tradition, which grew out of the Finnish National Romanticism, with mature urban-planning skills to produce a truly holistic composition. The museum building is described as "spare and almost Neo-classical," and was Saarinen’s last great work at Cranbrook. Its front arcade serves as a front façade, as a propylaeum, for the entire complex, with landscaped gardens gently sloping away from the massive columns, creating views to fountains, sculptures, and other campus buildings. The open portico (propylaeum) of the main facade has "the unmistakable air of European abstracted classicism of the 1930’s." Its materiality is consistent with the previous buildings at Cranbrook, but its scale is more monumental, allowing the building to have a more assertive presence on the campus. The museum features contemporary art and design with a permanent collection that includes works by Charles and Ray Eames, Harry Bertoia, Maija Grotell and Carl Milles, as well as Robert Motherwell, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Source: docomomo (US) [website]; http://www.docomomo-us.org (accessed 7/21/2015)