A Mid-Michigan Museum Draws a Crowd Carlos Osorio/Associated Press The Broad Art Museum is only the second permanent architectural project in the United States by the London-based architect Zaha Hadid. Along the main drag north of the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing lies the usual dowdy mix of Gothic-inspired classroom buildings and rundown frat houses. Then, a canted, glass-and-stainless-steel building, in the shape of a parallelogram, radicalizes the streetscape. This is the Broad Art Museum, only the second permanent architectural project in the United States by the London-based architect Zaha Hadid. And it resides unexpectedly on the northern edge of the green and sprawling university campus. Nearly 73,000 visitors have passed through the museum in the first six months since its November opening, a figure well above expectations. "It's like a spaceship has landed," said the museum director, Michael Rush, guiding a visitor around the three-level, 46,000-square-foot building. We think visitors are coming for the architecture initially, but are excited to be exposed to what's inside. The slants of the pleated facade create unusual gallery spaces indoors, some with inclined walls. The museum is named for the Los Angeles-based art collectors Eli and Edythe Broad, the lead donors on the project. He is a university alum. The Broad inherited a 7,500-piece collection from the university's Kresge Art Museum, which closed in July 2011 to make way for the new structure. With more than 70 percent of the facility devoted to exhibition space, there is more than ample room to take in art representing the historical range from ancient Greek ceramics to Salvador Dalí paintings that curators plan to incorporate into contemporary exhibitions. "We can create interesting conversations between the centuries," Mr. Rush said. No installations are permanent, and the museum recently opened "Blind Field," a thematic exhibition focusing on the concept of potential by 21 artists working in Brazil that runs through Sept. Artwork sparsely populates the walls, at least for now, to allow greater appreciation for the architecture, which features angled, irregularly shaped galleries and unusual vantage points, including a second-floor balcony over a gallery with windows wrapping one corner. A museum coffee shop provides a pleasant spot to view the surrounding campus framed by Ms. Hadid's soaring windows, but anyone in search of more sustenance will find the usual quick-service suspects including Jimmy John's, Taco Bell and Chipotle Mexican Grill across East Grand River Avenue. Seeking more culinary character, I followed the advice of a local friend to head about five miles west to the Old Town area of Lansing, the neighboring city and state capital. "We're the arty part of town," said Mike Skory, a volunteer at the Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art, which moved into Old Town last year to showcase the work of local artists, including Bruce Thayer, whose mixed media works incorporate collage and rubber stamping. Boutiques, galleries and restaurants line the pedestrian-friendly intersection of East Grand River Avenue and Turner Street in Lansing, including the new Meat, a roadhouse-style barbecue joint dishing hearty helpings of brisket, pulled pork and Parmesan fries. For now the Broad is the stand-alone art attraction in the greater Lansing area. Museum management hopes to collaborate on an art trail that would link East Lansing to Detroit, about 90 miles to the southeast, and Grand Rapids, 70 miles northwest. Those two anchor cities have more significant art appeal, beginning in Detroit with the established Detroit Institute of Arts and outsider art installations like the Heidelberg Project. Interest in the arts remains strong in Grand Rapids, historically a furniture design town and now home to the Grand Rapids Art Museum, which expanded in 2007 with a LEED gold certification as a green building and the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park hosting works by Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Keith Haring and Claes Oldenburg on 30 acres. But with the presence of the Hadid project, East Lansing looks to be coming into its own.