Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum offers one of the most extensive collections of Norwegian-American artifacts in the world with 33,000+ artifacts across 12 historic buildings. The museum campus extends over an entire city block and fronts Water Street, the primary commercial street in Decorah. It includes buildings that are contributors to the vibrant Decorah Commercial Historic District.

Vesterheim Commons is an infill building within this Historic District that serves as an impactful new entrance to the Vesterheim campus. Rather than being set back from adjacent structures, the entry is distinguished as a prominent presence on the street with a soaring canopy that communicates entry and creates public space. The transparency of the ground floor aims to make this community destination highly visible and inviting. New landscapes and plazas are woven between the buildings, connecting the public realm of Water Street to the many historical buildings.

Spaces accommodate programming for banquet and lecture needs, public folk art programming for families and students, the traveling Annual National Norwegian Folk Art Exhibition, and Viking River Cruise tour groups. As visitors move through the museum, they are guided on a journey to the past, learning about the objects and history of Norwegian-American traditions through exhibitions and a visible archive. The mass-timber structure and extensive use of wood finishes speaks to the tradition and craft of Norwegian-American culture and supports the goal of a highly sustainable building that minimizes its carbon footprint. This new wood structure is juxtaposed with the exposed historic load bearing masonry of the adjacent folk art building.

This project is a collaboration between BNIM as Architect of Record and Snohetta as Design Architect.