Minneapolis-based HGA Architects and Engineers has been selected to design an addition and remodeling to the Winona County Historical Society Museum in Winona, Minn. The three-story, 12,000-sq.-ft. addition will include a new lobby, multipurpose room for 150 people, outdoor terrace, expanded artifact and archive storage, gift shop, and support spaces.

"We are attracted by the unique challenges of this project," says Joan M. Soranno, AIA, design principal for HGA. "We will be creating a new facility while respecting the rich history and fabric of the city and county. It is our vision for the new building that it will add to the rich architectural legacy of Winona."

The museum is currently housed in the historic 1915 National Guard Armory building in downtown Winona. The $4.5 million addition and remodeling will allow the Historical Society to increase educational programming, exhibition, and collection-storage space.

The addition is located on an undeveloped lot next to the existing museum and takes advantage of natural light and views to the Winona County Courthouse across the street. It also takes cues from the Armory, with design elements such as the street level façade that features a contemporary, roman-brick colonnade that follows the deep recesses of the Armory windows and doors, heightening the play of light and shadow.

HGA plans to utilize Biesanz stone from Winona and salvaged wood from an existing historic building nearby in the interior details.

The addition is scheduled to open in 2010, in conjunction with the Winona County Historical Society's 75th anniversary.