Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago

As the fine arts museum of the University of Chicago, the Smart Museum of Art is a site for rigorous inquiry and exchange that encourages the examination of complex issues through the lens of art objects and artistic practice. Designed by Chicago-born architect Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1972, the limestone building’s modernist design consists of two buildings—the Smart Museum of Art and the Cochrane-Woods Art Center—linked together by a covered walkway and entrance. Both face the Vera and A.D. Elden Sculpture Garden, architecturally highlighting the artwork housed inside the museum and outside the Smart’s walls. The interior features a vaulted lobby ceiling, displaying a site-based lobby art installation from artist Nina Chanel Abney, and academic study room spaces, which allow students up-close examination of the over 17,000 objects in the Smart’s permanent collection.