As busy as a person can get with work and family and life’s other demands, sometimes it is easy to neglect the beauty right in front of you.

That includes the lovely Northern Michigan University campus right here in Marquette.

On Saturday, an opportunity begins to learn about the evolution of the architecture at NMU when the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center opens a new exhibition titled “A Beautiful Location.”

Many might not know how NMU has progressed from a campus with one building in a remote part of Marquette, to its expansion as a modern campus of the 1960s, to its wired community of today.

NMU has a rich architectural history, featuring some of the region’s more significant structures designed by Michigan architects.

Included among these structures is the beloved but now-demolished Kaye Hall, designed by D. Frederick Charlton, and Harden Hall (originally called the Learning Resources Center), designed by Alden B. Dow.

The exhibition “A Beautiful Location” offers insight into NMU’s campus, which is a mix of unique architectural styles and aesthetics. Featuring key information about each structure, including photographs, maps and architectural plans, the exhibition also will have a time-lapse map showing how the campus has grown — and spread out — over the past 122 years.

For the buildings no longer in existence, there will be display cases featuring architectural fragments, signs and artifacts connected to them.

For those who want the whole story, the Beaumier Center will host free architectural walking tours of the NMU campus this summer, limited to 20 people, on the following dates: July 8 and 22; and Aug. 5 and 19. To make a reservation, call 906-227-2549.

The exhibition will be open through Sept. 4. Visitation hours are Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturdays from noon-4 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.

For more information on visiting the Beaumier Center, go to www.nmu.edu/beaumier or www.facebook.com/beaumiernmu.

We hope many people take the time to look at the new exhibition, because NMU is “A Beautiful Location” indeed.