Was there ever a doubt that the Michigan State University Spartans would select one of their own to design the university's new art museum? Zaha Hadid Architects has won the competition to design the $30 million Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at MSU, beating out the four other finalists (Coop Himmelb(l)au, Morphosis, Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects, and Randall Stout Architects). If all goes according to plan, the Broad Art Museum will be Hadid's first building on a university campus and her second completed project in the United States (her first, the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, is in nearby Cincinnati).

According to MSU, the 41,000-square-foot, three-level building will be constructed of steel and concrete with an aluminum and glass exterior. It will adjoin an outdoor sculpture garden. More than 18,000 square feet of space will be dedicated to special exhibitions, modern and contemporary art, new media photography, works on paper, and the permanent collection of work from before 1945. The groundbreaking is planned for this fall, and the project is expected to be completed in 2010.

"Art Museums are centers for the exchange of ideas, showcasing the art that feeds the cultural life of the community," said Hadid at the press conference yesterday announcing her win. "The sculptural folds of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum's design and enigmatic qualities of its steel and glass surface follow a coherent formal logic, offering a sense of unlimited possibilities." Also featuring engimatic sculptural folds? The lovely black topper Hadid sported yesterday (which we're guessing is the work of Issey Miyake), as shown in the above photo of her with the Broads and MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon.