Client: Sherman Associates

Overview

The centerpiece of this historic Minneapolis building’s lobby is our atrium art installation. It is a sculpture designed to evoke the image of flour falling from a sifter in homage to one of the local historic industries. This delicate installation consists of nearly 200 strands that are 100 ft in length with a series of bronzed and stainless metallic square elements within the Canopy by Hilton Minneapolis, a conversion of the historic Advance Thresher/Emerson-Newton building from office to hotel by DLR Group.

Goals

We based our intention of creating a delicate and subtly floating installation on DLR Group’s design for the interiors of the hotel, which draws heavy inspiration from Scandinavian home works: abstractions of quilting and weaving are present throughout the hotel’s artwork and in its fixtures and furnishings. Intentional about creating a design rooted in the building’s history without feeling overtly industrial, the interior of the hotel exhibits delicate and subtle touchpoints, with elements custom-designed throughout to recall turn-of-the-century Scandinavian imagery.

Process

The collaboration between our studio and the designers at DLR was ideal. They had this early vision of simple elements falling through the new atrium space they were developing within the Thresher Building. We took that concept and ran with it, developing a series of elements that are elegant and significant without overwhelming the space.