Why isn that blue passage over South 2nd Street a skyway?
The city of Minneapolis ordinance prohibits pedestrian skyways in the Mill City Historic District neighborhood. The goal of these guidelines is to encourage pedestrian activity at street level. Although the production link looks very much like a skyway, it serves a very different purpose. Our sets are built in the scene shop located on top of the parking ramp. In order to move the sets (which sometimes weigh over a ton) from the scene shop to the stages on level three, a production link was necessary and became a critical element of the building’s design. The city understood this need for the functioning of the building and, given Jean Nouvel’s sensitivity and respect to the industrial architectural forms that were prevalent in the historic mills district, the city agreed to the passage over Second Street. With our audience in mind, Mr. Nouvel located the production link directly over the main entrance of the theater to provide shelter to patrons from snow and rain. We believe it is a
