The Milwaukee Art Museum sits on the shore of Lake Michigan in three generations of buildings. Its core is the Milwaukee County War Memorial by Eero Saarinen, completed in 1957, and its signature is the Quadracci Pavilion by Santiago Calatrava, inaugurated in 2001.
Calatrava's pavilion is famous for its moving sunscreen, or brise soleil. During the day its wings open to a span of 217 feet, and they fold down at night or in bad weather. Sensors watch the wind, closing the wings if it blows above 23 miles per hour for more than a few seconds. The pavilion won the 2004 Outstanding Structure Award from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering.
With nearly 35,000 works, it is the largest art museum in Wisconsin, and it holds one of the country's largest collections of works by Georgia O'Keeffe.
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