WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 22, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Four artists have been selected to create designs for Nicollet Mall artworks as part of the mall redesign project. The artists will work with the mall’s design team to create and integrate new works of art to complement the mall’s current uses and its future look. Their draft design concepts will be presented to the City this fall.
The artists selected are:
- Ned Kahn of California, commissioned to create one large-scale, iconic art piece for the mall.
- Blessing Hancock of Arizona, commissioned to design the suspended lanterns as part of the mall’s “light walk” between Sixth and Eighth streets.
- Tristan Al-Haddad of Georgia, commissioned to design a key feature on the mall.
- Regina Flanagan of Minnesota, commissioned to work with the design team on integrating public artwork into the redesigned mall.
More information about the artists is available at http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@cped/documents/webcontent/wcms1p-142983.pdf.
The City received 217 applications from artists who were interested in developing new Nicollet Mall art. The mall is second only to Walker Art Center’s Sculpture Garden for having the city’s largest collection of public and private artworks. Most of the mall’s current works of art were commissioned as part of the last renovation in the late 1990s.
The Nicollet Mall redesign project encompasses the complete reconstruction of the street and sidewalks along the 12 blocks of the mall from Washington Avenue to Grant Street. It’s led by New York-based landscape architects and urban designers James Corner Field Operations in partnership with local firms Snow Kreilich Architects, Coen + Partners, and SRF Consulting Group, Inc. The grand opening of the new Nicollet is scheduled for 2017.
Originally constructed in 1968, the original vision for Nicollet Mall was to strengthen Downtown’s appeal for retail and investment. Today, downtown Minneapolis is home to more than 130,000 jobs with Nicollet Mall containing the densest concentration of jobs and market values in Minnesota. The mall is now a major dining, retail, transit and pedestrian corridor and home to three Fortune 500 companies as well as the Minneapolis Central Library. The redesign is expected to make Nicollet an even better destination for people from across the city and the region. For more information on the project, visit NicolletMallProject.com.
