Public Functionary is a non-profit organization with the noble goal of creating a community of artists and linking them to the broader public. Two communities of a sort: one inward facing consisting of studios, the other extroverted consisting of galleries. We sought to design a space that acted as a bridge between the inner circle and the wider world.
Project Highlights
Size: 25,400 sq. ft.
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Timeline: 2027
Typologies: Adaptive Reuse - Historic Preservation - Cultural - Interior Remodel
Art in the Right Place
Their existing facilities in a huge historic industrial building consisted of a disconnected warren of adhoc spaces a floor above and a wing apart from their cafe and exhibition gallery. What they really wanted was a place where artists within a studio could feel a familial connection to each other, where studios themselves could nest within a larger collective, and where the hive as a whole could open themselves and their creations to a larger audience.
We worked with Public Functionary to navigate complex relationships with landlords, challenging constraints with their historic landmarked building, and convoluted rules regarding the public grant money that funded their project. All the while keeping our attention focused where it should be: on the artists and their work.
