Santiago Calatrava's soaring Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum is getting all the press these days, but the two buildings that have been home to MAM for years have also undergone massive changes in anticipation of the museum's Fri., May 4 grand reopening.

"We're anxious for people to come and see," said MAM Director Russell Bowman, as he led OMC on a tour of the revamped MAM buildings, including the striking 1957 Eero Saarinen-designed War Memorial and the 1975 David Kahler addition at lake level.

"We're very excited right now. Very tired, but very excited," Bowman said. "It's really going to be a whole new building. It's been a complicated process but the people involved think it has been worth it.

"We've rebuilt all of it inside, with the exception of the Bradley Collection (galleries), so it's a whole new look."

The galleries were redesigned via a close partnership between Bowman, the museum's curatorial staff and Vinci-Hamp Architects, Inc., a Chicago firm well versed in breathing new life into existing museums and their collections. Vinci-Hamp's previous clients have included the Art Institute of Chicago and the Walker Art Gallery.

The result at MAM has been a success. The new galleries flow well and there is now an open view through the galleries on the east/west axis, offering glimpses of Lake Michigan from unexpected locations.

"We now have a clear sequence of galleries that is clear to people," said Bowman, as he stood backlit by the spring sun peeking through the portal that links the new building with the old.

"The whole sweep of time is on this (main) level," said Bowman, explaining that the bulk of the galleries are arranged chronologically.

"It's a very traditional way of doing museum galleries," he said. "We wanted it to look more traditional and feel more permanent."

When entering the existing buildings from the Quadracci Pavilion, visitors are greeted by a lovely, vibrant 16th century tapestry -- recently conserved -- that has been in storage for a quarter-century. One immediately sees the effect of the expansion. There is now 30 percent more gallery space at MAM and many works long hidden away in the vault have been presented anew.

For example the photography and prints and drawings galleries are more than three times larger than the space previously devoted to those media. Similarly, the museum's impressive folk art and contemporary art galleries are considerably expanded, allowing for larger portions of the collection to be displayed.

"I would argue that we are showing one of the best collections of contemporary American art in the country," Bowman boasted. ""Other museums may have more depth but don't have the space we do to show it all."

MAM's contemporary art galleries have been constructed in the once-cavernous, but now remarkably intimate east entrance, facing Lake Michigan. The museum shop and eatery have also been moved into the new building.

This extra space allows for the permanent exhibition of space-gobbling works like Cornelia Parker's stunning installation, "The Edge of England," constructed from fallen pieces of chalk from the famous white cliffs of Dover.

In addition to many works seeing the light of day for the first time in a long while, a number of familiar works have gotten some attention. Works like Monet's "Waterloo Bridge," which has been reframed in a more sympathetic gold frame.

A large number of major gifts have arrived at the museum during the renovation and expansion. More than 1,600 works have been donated, including 446 German Expressionist prints, adding to the museum's impressive collection of German art. A group of Asian objects has also been given, as have paintings by Matthias Stom(er), Joseph Anton Koch, Ralph Fasanella, Arshille Gorky, Donald Judd and Neil Jenney.

On the museum's upper level, the galleries housing the Mrs. Harry Lynde Bradley collection are largely unchanged; they have undergone numerous updates over the years, including one just a few years ago.

But, nearby are the expanded folk art and Haitian art galleries as well as new collections of African and Asian art.

"We had been a museum of European and American art," Bowman said. "Now we have a much broader spectrum."

We didn't have a good collection," Bowman said of the African art collection, "but we felt we had an audience for it."

On the other hand, the MAM vault turned up a wealth of Asian art treasures, which have formed the basis for the collection on display.

"We found we had some very important works," Bowman said. "We have a respectable array of Chinese, Japanese and even Korean art."

Bowman is clearly smitten by the American Collections on the lower level, which house a range of works from 17th century furniture to decorative arts to 19th century American painting to Frank Lloyd Wright windows and furniture.

Unlike the rooms above, these galleries are arranged thematically, rather than chronologically.

"We've tried both approaches," Bowman noted. "We want to see how our visitors respond."