The Design Dozen

Minneapolis took root on the Mississippi where St. Anthony's Falls powered the city's early industries. A French missionary had named the falls after his favorite saint--and now another Frenchman has laid claim to the riverbank with the spectacular Guthrie Theater. Thanks to that and other stunning new buildings, the city's become a design boomtown.

THE GUTHRIE THEATER: French architect Jean Nouvel was so excited by the Guthrie site--"The Mississippi is mythic in France," he says--he insisted the theater be built 50 feet off the ground, for clear views of the river and those falls. His clients thought the idea was crazy. When Nouvel wouldn't give in, they rented a crane. Up swooped the Guthrie's director, Joe Dowling, in a cherry picker with the architect to check out the vistas. "I was quivering," recalls Dowling, while Nouvel, a bear of a man, puffed a cigar and sang "Old Man River"--in French. "Jean was absolutely right," says the director. "It was extraordinary." Nouvel got his way, but his daring didn't end with the theater's levitation. He designed a huge drum shape to house the main arena stage, an "endless bridge" that cantilevers 175 feet toward the river and an elevated passageway that connects to the scenery shop built atop a nearby garage. Then he wrapped it all in midnight-blue steel. The result is brazen, outrageous and wonderful--a building as drama queen.

Founded in 1963 by the great British director Sir Tyrone Guthrie, the original theater was famous for its asymmetrical thrust stage, re-created here in the 1,100-seat main theater. Nouvel added an elegant proscenium theater--in luscious reds--and a "black box" space for experimental work. "For the artistic community," said actor Sally Wingert, arriving at the Guthrie one recent day on her bike, "it's a giant, gorgeous playground." For the public, too, it's as inventive inside as out. Whether you're cruising up the escalators, strolling the lobby bar and cafés or wandering along that "endless bridge" with a glass of wine, you'll glimpse surprising reflections and views of the city and the river. Nouvel plays with color--one vast window is tinted ski-goggle yellow--and with illusion. At the end of the cantilevered "bridge," you encounter a big glass rectangle in the floor where, far below, you see the ground. It's a heart-stopping moment: at the new Guthrie, theatrical experiences won't be confined to the stage.