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MADISON -- Madison's State Street likely conjures images of college students reveling at bars, studying in coffee shops or shopping at Ragstock rather than of sleek galleries exhibiting contemporary art, but for years, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art has challenged that misconception.

And since it opened in its new digs three years ago, MMoCA has looked better than ever.

The independent museum, located in the Overture Center for the Arts, 227 State St., was founded more than a century ago and spent much of that time inhabiting what its brochure calls "borrowed and refurbished spaces."

The new facility was designed by world-renowned Argentine architect Cesar Pelli and features a soaring glass atrium with a breathy staircase up to the main galleries that is as much an attraction as the art on view.

Pelli also designed the expansion and renovation of New York's Museum of Modern Art, as well as many other world-class structures.

"The new facility is the first in the organization's 100-year-plus history that was designed specifically for MMoCA's mission," says director Stephen Fleischman. "It has all of the specific technical workshops and storage facilities necessary to run a museum."

In addition to a large gallery upstairs, there is a medium-sized State Street Gallery on the main level and the more intimate Henry Street Gallery on the lower level.

There are also a shop, café, rooftop sculpture garden, works on paper study center, a new media gallery, a children's classroom, a 230-seat lecture hall and other amenities.

"The building is close to double the size of the old facility," boasts Fleischman.

But it is the expanded gallery space that has made an especially important impact, says Fleischman, who oversees a permanent collection of more than 5,000 works and an active slate of exhibitions, talks, film and video screenings, education programs and other events at MMoCA.

"The commodious gallery spaces permit exhibitions that were not possible in the past. For instance, the George Segal show (which closed Dec. 28) in our main galleries on the second floor required all 8,200 square feet of that space," he says.

"The enhanced weight bearing capabilities of the building also accommodated the weight loads of Segal's bronze sculptures -- and the fork lift needed to move them -- with no difficulty."

On a recent visit MMoCA was showing Segal's "Street Scenes," German photographer Barbara Probst's "Exposures" and in the Henry Street Gallery, "An Art of Inner Necessity: Expressionist Works from MMoCA's Permanent Collection."

The beautiful new home has also brought new visitors, says Fleischman.

"The new facility opened in April 2006, and since that time has attracted almost 500,000 visitors," he says, "nearly double the attendance rate in the old building.

"MMoCA has a diverse audience, but there has been a noticeable increase in younger visitors. People in their 20s and 30s attend film screenings, exhibition openings, and special events. Students are encouraged by MMoCA's free admission policy, and school tours have grown dramatically through a special Museum program that reimburses the costs of bus transportation and substitute teachers."