Page 70 - Studio International - May June 1975

Walker Art Center

Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.,1971

Architect: Edward Larrabee Barnes

Walker Art Center is a contemporary
art museum concerned with painting,
sculpture and other visual manifestations
of the recent past and with the innovative
work of the present. A primary reason
for building the new museum was the
need to provide space for a multiplicity
of new activities.
The plan of the new Art Center
combines the central core scheme of
many classical museums with the
sequential, or programmed, circulation
scheme typified by the Guggenheim
Museum. Circulation around the
elevator-stair core, from the ground
floor to the roof decks, enables the
visitor to by-pass galleries closed for
installation without interruption or
backtracking. The absence of long
corridors and interior firestairs results
in maximum usable space, and the
exterior firestairs read as strong
sculptural elements on the massive
facades. Continuous interior walls and
extended vistas are important benefits of
Mr Barnes's closed plan. Natural light is
used sparingly in the lower galleries —
none in Gallery i and 2, a diagonal
window in Gallery 3 and a skylight in
Gallery 6. Roof decks act as pedestals
for large outdoor sculpture and a full
glass wall relates Gallery 7 to Terrace i,
where the viewer may study sculpture
against the city skyline. A glass wall also
relates the restaurant to Terrace III.
Through these glass walls and from the
triangular window projecting over
Terrace II the visitor can see all outdoor
sculpture — a useful feature during
Minnesota's severe winters.
Adjacent to the concourse, uniting the
Walker Art Center and The Guthrie
Theatre, is the museum's lobby. The
lobby contains the Center Book Shop
and serves as an information area for View from south
exhibitions and other events. Off the We are trying to create architecture each gallery its own sense of place.
lobby, one half level down, are a small that does not compete with art — to put The ambience of the galleries is white
Oriental Gallery and the Education the priorities in the right order. We on white. Reflected light is maximized.
Department. The Auditorium and want the visitor to remember paintings Architectural details are minimized;
Lecture/Information Room are also in space, sculpture against sky, and a elaborate wall systems and 'interesting'
on the lobby level. The steeply raked sense of continuous flow. It is flow more materials are avoided. We want the
350-seat auditorium, with a huge white tnan form that has concerned us. The paintings to be seen in space, not 'against'
screen as its front wall, is used for films, sequence of spaces must be seductive. confusing surfaces. We want a sense of
lectures, chamber concerts and other There must be a subtle sense of going release, not of containment.
events. A wide, curved wall in the somewhere, like a river. At the same time On the roof, the walls and paving are
75-seat Lecture/Information Room is the architecture must be relatively all one material — dark plum-coloured
used for films, slides and multiple uneventful and anonymous. brick. The building itself is a pedestal.
projection events, and the room serves The generating idea behind the design Sculpture is seen against giant walls and
as an orientation point for tours and is the helical plan which provides stepped terraces, and best of all, against
classes. sequential flow from the lobby to the the distant Minneapolis skyline. It is
Walker Art Center combines the roof whether going up or down. At the important to see sculpture related to
traditional museum functions — preserving same time, direct access to individual architecture. It is equally important to
and presenting works of art — with a new galleries is possible by using the elevator see it standing alone.
objective to provide large, flexible areas or core stairs. This circulation system is A museum is not a temple to the
for the creation of ambitious works. the armature of the building. donors, or a monument to the architect,
An open environment for the experience Museum fatigue is reduced by a sense of or a security vault — in short, it is not a
of art unites the artist's needs with those progression; it is also avoided by gentle thing unto itself. It is part of the fabric of
of his growing audience. variations, by occasionally providing daily life, sharing urban benefits and
Mildred S. Friedman orientation to daylight, and by giving problems with its neighbours.
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