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Peter Cox

Walker Art Center plans $24M revamp of outdoor space

Walker Art Center rendering
A rendering of the new glass pavilion and landscaping at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis
Courtesy of HGA Minneapolis

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The Walker Art Center has announced a $24 million campus renovation plan that will redesign much of the museum's outdoor space.

The project adds more green space along Hennepin Avenue, redesigns an existing entry pavilion and will landscape the 6.1 acre space to the west of the museum for better views of the Minneapolis skyline.

The Walker said Joan Soranno and John Cook of HGA Minneapolis will design the new entry pavilion and Petra Blaisse and Jana Crepon of Inside Outside, Amsterdam will create the green space on the museum's west side.

Walker Art Center rendering
A rendering of the Walker Art Center's green space.
Courtesy of HGA Minneapolis

"We're really looking at the entire campus on the Walker side of the street and trying to soften the edges, add a little more green, add some trees and bring a lot more nature into the picture," said Ryan French, director of marketing for the Walker.

The redesign coincides with the renovation of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, which is being paid for with state funds and a grant from Mississippi Watershed Management Organization. Tom Oslund of the Minneapolis firm Tom Oslund & Associates will lead the renovation of the Sculpture Garden.

The renovations of the campus and sculpture garden are scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2017.

The projects are part of a $75 million dollar capital campaign that will also add $33 million dollars to the museum's endowment.

Thomas Fisher, the dean of the University of Minnesota College of Design, says the project is part of a larger trend in Minneapolis.

"We have some of the best landscape architects in the world working on public open space in the city right now and I think we're all going to be the beneficiaries of this," Fisher said.

Fisher pointed to projects such as Nicollet Mall, which is being redesigned by James Corner Field Operations, also known for New York City's High Line park.