Gateway Center & Plaza
Antoine Predock Architect PC, USA
An irregular polyhedron of colliding granite planes is broken by large fissures of glass, opening the interior space to the sun and sending refracted light bouncing off the copper surfaces. This description defines the University of Minnesota’s Gateway Center and Plaza, which emerges from the earth as more of an upheaval of material than a distinct structure. The Center occupies a major entry point onto the university’s campus and houses a memorial hall, as well as offices for departments like the Alumni Association and the Board of Regents. And while the functions of the space are integral to the school, the building’s true importance comes from its symbolic ties to the culture of the American Midwest.
The word “Minnesota” comes from the Native American Dakota tribe’s word for “clear blue water,” and the surrounding area was settled by colonial traders because of its advantageous position along the waterways between the Mississippi River and Lake Superior. Today, this ancestral bond between the people of Minnesota and their environment is physically expressed in the form of the Gateway Center, which Architect Antoine Predock describes as simultaneously evoking the natural rock faces of the region and the iconic huddle of the Minnesota farmstead. This form is surrounded by a veritable forest of native plants on the Plaza, including 110 evergreens and 178 hardwood trees that can all be found within the state, making the entire complex a Minnesota in miniature.
The Center also connects the region’s rich past to the university’s history. Built where the school’s stadium once stood, the building features a salvaged 16 meter tall “Memorial Arch,” which now hangs from one of the Center’s interior polyhedral facets and marks the entrance to the facility’s Heritage Gallery. The arch now acts as a literal gateway to the past, connecting the bygone days of Minnesota’s past to the Gateway Center and future generations.
Originally appeared in Modus News 6
Antoine Predock Architect PC
From the Rome Prize to the AIA Gold Medal, New Mexico-based Antoine Predock Architect PC has graced the design industry with five decades of award-winning work. Its founder, Antoine Predock, interprets architecture as a ride — a journey toward the unexpected. Inspired by his love of human motion through his involvement with dance, and mechanical motion through his passion for motorcycles, Predock views the physical and intellectual experience of design as a choreographed event. Thus, his buildings function as a procession of movement, and as an accumulation of perceived and experienced vantage points unique to each observer.
Antoine Predock photograph and sixth level floor plan by Antoine Predock Architect PC, all other photographs ©Tim Hursley