With $158 million to spend, many an art museum might opt to build a new wing or two. Not so the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), which reopened last weekend with Michael Graves’ long-awaited renovation. The project reclad some of the DIA’s exteriors, rethought the way art is displayed and labeled in its existing galleries, and made interior circulation much clearer and easier.

The DIA features an encyclopedic collection of art from all periods and locations, housed in a Renaissance-inspired building, dating to 1927, designed by Paul Cret. Over the years, as the DIA added north and south wings and tinkered with its galleries, it created a warren of spaces that were hard to navigate. Space for special shows was limited.