Reaction

When the building was first completed, reactions on campus ranged from the very negative to the ecstatic, and they continue to vary today: Susan Grimes criticizes the design because "it has no relationship to the building’s function," whereas William McKenzie Woodward thinks "List is particularly successful as an aesthetic object," which certainly relates to the function as a place in which to foster the creation and exhibition of art. For Stephen Glassman, the building is "a majestic portrait, radiating a kind of internal, natural strength that looks to withstand the assault of a world in flux."