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Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

Drawing for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Edward Larrabee Barnes and Assoc. with Peter Rothschild

The original garden

Architect Edward Larrabee Barnes wanted the original seven-and-a-half acre garden to "echo" the modern Walker Art Center he had designed across the street in 1971. What do you think? The original garden design is very balanced and symmetrical. It's very formal like many gardens in Europe. In the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden four open-air "rooms" highlight large artworks. The rooms are formed by tall evergreen trees called arborvitae, which make the outdoor space seem like gallery rooms without a roof. The original design included a conservatory with a reflecting pool, and a pedestrian bridge. A model of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden was then made after the Barnes design.

Barnes collaborated with Peter Rothschild, who designed the grounds, and Barbara Stauffacher Solomon and Michael Van Valkenburgh, who designed the Regis Gardens in the Cowles Conservatory. These landscape architects use plants, trees, bushes, and flowers to construct spaces. Can you find the garden spaces constructed in this way?