The Fredösphere

The University of Michigan's latest contribution to starchitecture is an eye-catching biomedical research building with an ostentatious glass screen and a gorgeous little bon-bon of an auditorium.  The complex is located on a bend in a busy stretch of road, so it's a perfect spot for a dramatic sculptural statement. 

This snapshot gives you the sidewalk-level view, and just barely shows the gentle curves of the walls and roof.  (You can see computer-rendered images at the Polshek Partners website.)  I find the auditorium far more appealing than Frank Gehry's buildings, which it imitates; Gehry's curves seem arbitrary and self-indulgent to me, but these curves are built up from easily-intuited rules.  Some people are calling it the Potato Chip.

I think the glass screen is ugly, but they say it is engineered to aid ventilation, being open in summer and sealed in winter.  It's facing south, but I'm sure the engineers know what they're doing.  My sources within the architecture community* inform me that the screen was something of an afterthought; former U-M president Lee Bollinger surprised everyone by raising a big chunk of extra money so they could do something impressive.  We're talking an amount on the order of $10 million extra.

*Wow.  He says he has sources in the architecture community.  Veeeery impressive.