Building Surprises: The Architecture of the Weisman Art Museum

In Context
Weisman from a distanceWhen designing a building, Frank Gehry thinks about the environment of the building site as well as who will use the building. This is the building's context. It includes:

For Frank Gehry, context means more than the way a building relates to its surroundings. It also means the way it will be used by the people who enter it, how it will feel to move through the building; what the building "says" to people passing by.

The site for the Weisman Art Museum, rising above the craggy limestone bluffs of the Mississippi River, seems to be echoed in the angles and juttings of the west facade of the building. It has been described as a "frozen waterfall," like the ice that forms from seeping moisture on the rocky bluffs of the river in the winter.

A building can blend into its surroundings, reflect them, or contrast with them.



The Egyptian Pyramids stand in monumental contrast to the flat desert surrounding them. They were once covered with limestone which gleamed white in the sun.




Fallingwater, a house by Frank Lloyd Wright, reflects its surroundings by using natural stones and shapes in its design.
Suburban housing

In many suburbs, new houses must blend in, matching the neighboring houses in many ways, from their general design to the landscaping and the color of the paint.

What does the Weisman Art Museum do?

Who is Frank Gehry? Making the Weisman In context Looking closer Using your imagination

Facts about the
Weisman Art Museum

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Weisman Home Page		 Credits

University of Minnesota

Page credits:
Weisman from a distance: photo © Warren Bruland
Fallingwater: photo © Western Pennsylvania Conservancy/Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania

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