The Walker Art Center is located a block off Interstate-94 at the corner of Lyndale Avenue South and Vineland Place. Walker Art Center Director Kathy Halbreich says the concept for the expanded Walker campus is to enhance the artistic, educational, and social experience for a wide range of visitors from students and teens to artists.

The enhanced Walker Art Center will feature an additional 100,000 sf to 110,000 sf of interior space, four acres of green space, nearly 14,000 sf of rooftop terraces and visitor amenities including a new restaurant, café, shop and 700-vehicle underground parking facility. The art center will also have galleries and gardens for the museum's growing collection, a high-tech studio for contemporary dance, music, performance, and theater programs, a new-media laboratory and new spaces for innovative education programs.

The expansion, which will nearly double the size of the current facility, is oriented to the south, along Hennepin Avenue, to the site now occupied by the Allianz Life Insurance Co. building. A new two-level structure, connecting with the existing facility, will feature galleries and education spaces. The taller south end of the addition includes the multidisciplinary performance studio, shop, and a restaurant offering views of Loring Park and Downtown. The resulting new façade will open up the art center to Hennepin Avenue and connect it with Downtown.

With the Guthrie Theater's move to a new facility on the Minneapolis riverfront scheduled for 2004, the Walker will create a four-acre sculpture garden on the land now occupied by the Guthrie building and the parking lot located at the rear of the Allianz building. The new garden will be connected to the 11-acre Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, which is known for its sculpture of a huge spoon with a cherry.

One of the most visited art museums nationally, the Walker and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden are also among the 10 most popular tourist attractions in Minnesota with about 992,000 visitors in 1999-2000.

In January 1999, the Walker said it would buy the neighboring Allianz Life Insurance Co. building and grounds, a 3.4-acre property that once included the residence of museum founder T.B. Walker. By reacquiring this property, the Walker has the opportunity to significantly expand its facility for the first time in 30 years. In the coming months, the expansion plans will be taken to community groups and neighborhood organizations for feedback.

Further development of the design will take up to two years, with construction beginning in 2003 and a public opening of the expanded facility anticipated in 2005.

Instant Insights /

$90-Mil Makeover for Walker Art Center

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