The Minnesota Museum of American Art (The M)

Minnesota Museum of American Art The new Minnesota Museum for American Art (The M), through its adaptive reuse of significant 19th-century buildings, reinvigorates the blighted and neglected former commercial heart of downtown St. Paul. Retaining the layered qualities of this urban block with its overlapping circulation patterns, which include a former shopping arcade, second-level skyway system and ground-level alleys, creates transparency and new social connections between the museum's new programs and the city street. Specific programs are aligned with compatible layers of the building’s history; the historic L-shaped commercial glass arcade is repurposed for the main galleries of the museum’s 130-year-old permanent collection. The former newspaper spaces of the Pioneer Press Building now support collaborative art projects and an educational wing. The museum’s temporary gallery occupies the former coal loading space in the original public alley. The former exterior service court is now an interior sculpture court with a glass bridge connecting to the skyway entry. The previous coal yard and furnace are the new museum’s support spaces. A former bank lobby was converted into the new museum lobby visible from the street, while the old alleyway and service area provide space and access to a new changing gallery.