The Walker without walls

Or at least office furniture and ugly Teflon exterior

The New York Times ran a piece in Sunday's paper that made the new Walker Art Center, which opens April 17, look like the world's greatest art museum--and it just might be. The writer asserts that not only is the Walker innovative for its design (by award-winning Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron), but the Center relied on an innovative business model that looked to local businesses (instead of grants) like Target and Best Buy to foot the $92 million expansion.

But the Star Tribune paints a less rosy picture in Sunday's paper, claiming that the Center's expansion is $6 million over budget, and that the total cost for the expansion now stands at $130.5 million. For now, the high-design office furniture is on hold.