AIA MN: Making an Entrance: A Design Conversation

The Walker Art Center’s light-filled new entry pavilion was designed to dramatically enhance visitor circulation and strengthen the art center’s connection to the neighboring Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Join HGA Architects and Engineers’ Joan Soranno and John Cook, Minnesota Design Center’s Thomas Fisher, and Walker executive director Olga Viso for an Architecture MN magazine–cohosted conversation on the ideas and considerations that drove the entry design and its integration with the larger campus transformation. “We’re bringing people back to the original central entry concept, which hearkens back to the old Guthrie and that wonderful moment where you came inside and were surrounded with energy from the art, light, and people moving through to the gift store, theater, and museum,” says Cook. “Our goal was to unify the campus rather than add a new element.”