After the disciplined process the American Center, the Weisman Art Museum came as a liberating experience. It was the first project I worked on at the office to use sheet metal (stainless steel) as the primary material in the architectural expression. Despite its modest scale, it would become the precedence for the other more celebrated projects to follow, including the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Yet it all began in Minneapolis!
The site for the Weisman was located at the University of Minnesota campus, adjacent to the Washington Ave. Bridge that connects the east and west sides of the campus separated by the Mississippi River.
To take advantage of its unique location on the campus, the Weisman Art Museum would incorporate the extension of Washington Ave. Bridge to Coffman student Plaza as a part of its architecture, as many students bypass the museum every day in their commute between the two campuses.
As a teaching museum for the University, the Weisman would provide 11,000 SF of gallery in addition to classrooms and museum support spaces, situated on top of a parking garage for 200 cars.
Through a large window on the north elevation (adjacent to the Washington Ave. Bridge extension), student traffic passing by the museum would get a glimpse into the front gallery space, featuring a large-scale painting by (LA based Minnesota native) artist James Rosenquist.
The spacious main gallery (with 21’ high ceiling) was designed to be a column free space with long span trusses as the structural support for the roof. Partition walls below the trusses could be removed when required to allow curatorial flexibility. Skylights strategically located above the trusses (and on center with the openings of the partition walls) provide natural light to the galleries while keeping the direct sunlight away from the exhibition walls.
During the design process, it was the first time we used silver-color cardboard as a modeling material (image on left) to study how to give a sense of fluidity and movement to the Museum’s west elevation facing the Mississippi. When realized in brushed finish stainless steel, the museum came alive in the way it responded to the Minnesota light (image on right).
The design development of the Weisman was accomplished in a pre-digital era. The complex geometries of the design were documented and studied meticulously by hand drawings. Working closely with our executive architect John Cook and his team at the firm of MSR in Minneapolis, the complex design of the west elevation was translated flawlessly into the finished building.
Despite the success and the warm reception of the Weisman by the University and the local community, the project was very much a work in progress. Lyndel King, the museum’s director, has always intended to extend the scope of the project to the east side facing Coffman Plaza in a subsequent phase, to be realized more than 15 years later.
The projects in this section were designed and executed during my time at Gehry Partners LLP (the office). I am grateful to Mr. Gehry and the team at the office for their generosity and support over the years. All intellectual property rights of these projects continue to be owned by the office unless otherwise mentioned. The narrative texts on the projects are entirely personal, they do not represent the views or opinions of the office, its clients or any other third party or organization.