Frederick Weisman Museum – University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
The museum, designed by Frank Gehry, was completed in 1993. It is one of the major landmarks on campus, situated on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River at the east end of the Washington Avenue Bridge. The building presents two faces, depending on which side it is viewed from. From the campus side, it presents a brick facade that blends with the existing brick and sandstone buildings. On the opposite side, the museum is a playground of curving and angular brushed steel sheets. This side is an abstraction of a waterfall and a fish.
Some locals critical of the radical architectural style frequently point out that the building’s design could unexpectedly reflect the light of the sun into the eyes of motorists on the bridge.
