The Bakken Museum: Connecting People to Place

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The Bakken Museum sits in a quiet residential neighborhood on the west shore of Bde Maka Ska (formerly Lake Calhoun) in Minneapolis, MN. The museum occupies a historic mansion built in 1928. The house, called West Winds, was designed by Carl Gage and combines English Tudor, European Gothic Revival, and other architectural styles. As the world’s only library and collection devoted primarily to medical electricity, the museum’s collection has evolved over the years, and the nature of exhibits and visitor expectations has grown in sophistication.

With the last major renovation to the museum in the late 1990’s, the design team was challenged to transform the outdated environment into special place that sparked its visitors’ imaginations and aligned with the innovation and wizardry of its collections. A glass tower, known as the Lantern of the Lake, provides a new, elegant front door featuring a rotating dichroic prism sculpture. It has become a signature icon for the museum and has unified the stylistically pastiche environment with the simple, clean lines of contemporary design and order.

On the interior, a new entry sequence now welcomes visitors with an uncluttered, well-lighted space and contemporary statement. The visitor experience has been enriched with now-expected amenities. Ample seating and a new reception desk replace the Gothic-style lobby and dark, outdated paneled space. Through the renovation process, the design team transformed “found space” into an entry display for a new gift shop, creating economic viability for the future.
 
Inefficient exhibit spaces were consolidated into a single, flexible “black box” gallery to accommodate a larger range of exhibits and events. The design team built in flexibility with the use of operable partitions. Museum staff can now create multiple configurations within the space—from events and presentations to classrooms and makerspaces.

Museum visitors are now given clear and unobstructed sight lines within the museum, a significant change from the existing rabbit warren of small rooms, nooks and galleries. Visitors often move from dark to lighted areas—a type of metaphor for the museum’s mission of technology, electricity and innovation. In addition, an energetic wayfinding program reflects the museum’s mission in a unique way—leveraging a simple principle of physics called color subtraction, graphic panels reveal various bits of information based on the type of light they absorb. With respect to the existing historic context, the refreshed Bakken can once again inspire imaginations and connect people to place.

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