Notice the eleven-story Cultural Education Center rising on Madison Avenue, along the south side of the Empire State Plaza. The eleven-story, 1.5 million square foot (135,000 m³) mass before you was completed in 1978 and wears the New Formalist design of its time. It houses the main offices of the New York State Office of Cultural Education, part of the New York State Education Department.
Inside, the New York State Museum occupies floors one through four; the New York State Library fills floors five through eight and the eleventh floor; the New York State Archives sits on the ninth floor. As you take this in, notice how the building faces northward toward the New York State Capitol building across the plaza. The scale—those eleven stories and vast interior—was conceived for public collections and offices; the stone and rhythm of its facade are characteristic of New Formalism.
You can imagine the flow of visitors coming for exhibits in the museum on the lower floors and researchers rising to the library and archives above. Beyond its New Formalist facade, the New York State Capitol waits directly north across the plaza.