I admit it; one of my first trips to Minneapolis, Minnesota was to visit what was then the world’s largest indoor shopping center–the Mall of America. The massive retail establishment is located in the suburb of Bloomington and is worth the 20-minute car ride from downtown Minneapolis. It is considered the Mecca of malls and with 2.5 million square feet (another 1.1 million square feet is being added), more than 500 stores, an indoor amusement park, a 1.2 million-gallon aquarium with more than 8,000 fish and other aquatic creatures, a virtual submarine ride, a wedding chapel, a NASCAR simulator, 50 … Continue reading →

Our nation’s art museums are growing… and growing, and growing. In the past couple of years some of the United States’ finest art museums in cities such as Denver, Minneapolis, Indianapolis and San Francisco have undergone massive expansions. And art institutions in more than half a dozen other cities soon plan to follow suit. Take a look at the what’s new at some of the following museums: Denver Art Museum Architect Daniel Libeskind’s Rocky Mountain-inspired building now sits adjacent to the museum’s original Gio Ponti-designed structure. At 146,000 square feet, it nearly doubles the museum’s size. All that space is … Continue reading →