The award-winning building is composed of five, long, flat-roofed pavilions situated on a 1.5-acre pond. The roof is supported by 120-foot-long architectural cast-in-place concrete folded plates, which form giant torsional tubes, anchored to transverse concrete walls for stability. Forty-foot-high transparent walls of glass framed in metal surround the concrete envelope, and provide public circulation areas from which to view the surrounding building, the large reflecting pond, outdoor sculpture and the landscaped grounds.

The desire to use diffused and reflected natural light within the gallery spaces was a major influence on the building's design. The immense, cantilevered cast concrete roofs shade the building's exterior and accommodate the introduction of natural light into the gallery spaces by supporting sophisticated systems of continuous linear skylights and clerestory windows.