Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
Set on 7.5 acres of downtown park land, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden was developed jointly by the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Park Board. QRP’ plan was flexible enough to serve museum visitors as well as general park users.
The garden is designed as a series of open-sky galleries consisting of four 1000 squarefoot square plazas enclosed with low stone walls and clipped evergreen hedges, and a large grassy courtyard featuring Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s “Spoonbridge with Cherry,” which looks as thought it’s floating on the free-form pond. QRP worked in close collaboration with seven other artists to site their works. Settlement problems were anticipated because there was once a lake on the site, so a subsurface structural system was developed.
The project also included a whimsical pedestrian bridge to bring visitors across the eight lanes of I-94 to the sculpture garden. The bridge was designed in collaboration with artist Siah Armajani and funded by the Federal Highway Administration.
Location
Minneapolis, MN
Client
Walker Art Center
Role
Landscape Architect
Team
Edward Larrabee Barnes Associates Architects
Claus Oldenburg
Meg Webster, and Siah Armajani Artists
