The
Weisman Art Museum (WAM) in Minneapolis, which recently reopened with a new addition, wrapped up a design competition last month that re-imagines the plaza outside its front entrance.
A nine-member jury chose as its winner a proposal jointly from
VJAA (Jennifer Yoos and Vincent James),
HouMinn Practice (Marc Swackhammer and Blair Satterfield), and artist Diane Willow, according to WAM information.
The plaza, which overlooks the Mississippi River, stands on the eastern edge of the Washington Avenue Bridge, which links the east and west banks of the
University of Minnesota campus.
Over 2,000 people cross the plaza daily, and with the completion of recent construction projects, including the Weisman expansion, that number is probably going to go up, according to museum information.
WAM spokesperson Erin Lauderman explains that the design competition was a way to “re-envision our front yard,” which, she adds, is important because “We’re the figureheads for people coming onto the campus as they cross the river.”
The idea is to make the busy plaza more of a gathering space where people will want to linger. “Right now it dumps you on the campus,” she says.
To address that, WAM's Target Studio for Creative Collaboration required that submissions come from interdisciplinary teams with experience designing public spaces.
She says that the winning team’s design helps redirect the flow of traffic to make it safer, keeping pedestrians and bicyclists separate.
It also makes way for an interactive public space with digital walls where passersby “can stop and interact, sort of like a call and response.”
For example, images of people walking across the bridge could appear on the digital walls.
The next phase involves public meetings. “It needs to be vetted for what’s realistic and what the community wants it to be,” Lauderman says.
Source: Erin Lauderman, spokesperson, Weisman Art Museum
Writer: Anna Pratt