Eye Candy of the Week: Arts & Sciences Building at Lansing Community College

The Arts & Sciences Building on Lansing Community College’s downtown campus was built in 1968 and remodeled in 2013. The remodel was primarily interior, but you can see in the photo that the façade received an update too, in the form of glass-paneled, cantilevered offices above the entrances. 

This structure boasts more than a nice splash of modernism, though; it defies traditional ideas of what a four-story school building should look like. Take its windows for example. Instead of rows, they are assigned vertically in a slim, tall fashion throughout the exterior. Its huge sections of uninterrupted brickwork are a nice surprise as well. With help from the vertical windows and columns of masonry, the otherwise subtle panels of brickwork become center stage. Finally, it is not very often that a four-story academic building has a protruding roofline. The large overhangs might help shield the sun for a 2 p.m. class on the top floor, but their purpose is best served as a horizontal stop for the eye as it moves upward. The dramatic roofline keeps the tall structure grounded. 

The building’s edges are softened by a curved sidewalk and generous space of landscaping. As spring continues, expect the swaths of pointy grasses and rows of planted flowers to liven up this cool, subtle structure.