Back to school: Cranbrook Academy of Art

Time is a tricky thing. Everyone gets the same amount, but the amount of usable time is entirely up to the individual. Before the semester starts, I thought it's time to give myself a good tour through the campus, and surely enough, I discovered interesting details and places where I didn't before.

BTW, here's the link to the photo album of Cranbrook Campus.



To cut the story short, Cranbrook was founded by a rich couple in the early 1900s. They were the media tycoons of that time and found this piece of land which reminded them of their hometown, Cranbrook of England. So they bought it and started to build an education community on it. They invited famous sculptor Carl Milles as the first director of the Academy of Art, and Eliel Saarinen to design the campus. Eliel's son, Eero Saarinen, designed the TWA( now as JFK) Airport in NYC as well as the St Louis Arc. Did I mention the Eames' relation to our 3D department?

There are also a library dedicated to Art and Design, a museum that holds world class exhibition as well as Michigan's biggest and private owned Natural Science Museum. Lot's of resources for us in the middle of nowhere.



The campus architecture is filled with intricate details that really take time to appreciate. One of the interesting features on this campus is the number of fountains and lakes there are. The land used to be a swamp, and they dug lakes to centralize the water and dry the land.







Before I go any further, the Cranbrook Educational Community is made up of different schools, from elementry to middle, to high school and then graduate school(no university). For the primary and secondary school education, it's really for the rich of the rich. Annual schooling and boarding is about US$40k, which is almost twice that of the graduate school!

Some photos of the highschool campus











Highschool library







Sports Complex



So much for the rich side, here's the Academy of Art campus







John's TP in the middle of the classic campus court yard! Reminds me of the Louvre in Paris.




Another main attraction of the campus is the Cranbrook House itself. This is the original residence of George Booth and his wife(the founders). It's a huge and beautiful mansion designed by Albert Kahn, and surrounded by beautiful landscaped nature and lakes.














Cranbrook Campus is basically a big park and welcomes anyone. There are always people picnicking and walking dogs. The campus is filled with trails in the woods. Open yet secured. It definitely qualifies as a destination.



Oriental Garden



Bog Garden



The girl's middle school by the lake



Local resident



And an announcement:



Which reads:

Wanted for crimes against plant material. Last known address Cranbrook's Sunken Garden. Aliases include: Peter, Fluffy, Flopsy and the dreaded uncle Wiggily. MO: They wear cute, cuddly outfits, travel in packs and eat everything in sight. Considered armed with appetite and dangerous! Do your part to stop these nibblers by closing this gate!