| Starting with Philip Johnson's acclaimed IDS Tower in 1972 (which is still, perhaps, one of the best looking skyscrapers in the country) Minneapolis has seen architecture play an increasingly important role in the fabric of the city. Recent buildings by Jean Nouvel, James Dayton, Frank Gehry, Cesar Pelli and Herzog & de Meuron, as well as classics by Minoru Yamasaki & Associates, Gunnar Birkerts and Ralph Rapson, are making the City of Lakes also the City of Architecture. This video surveys some of the buildings that have transformed the cityscape as a result of the city's considerable investment in its skyline. John Comazzi, a University of Minnesota Architecture professor, guides us around these Minneapolis landmarks, revealing some of the more interesting architectural details, facts and marvels. We start at the Walker Art Center's new addition by Herzog & de Meuron and conclude, fittingly, backstage at the new Guthrie Theatre building designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel, who had this to say about the project: "At the heart of the city, the Guthrie is a machine for capturing and radiating the enveloping vistas. It condenses the landscape that unfolds around it." |
