WALK THIS WAY

It’s one of our most beautiful and traveled indoor spaces, and it’s a cornerstone of the new Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park campus. The expanded BISSELL Corridor is taking shape to take on our growing community. Here’s what you can expect as expansion continues this year.

Always bustling with activity, this central thoroughfare and gathering space is the common thread through Meijer Gardens. More than a mere walkway, the BISSELL Corridor connects our gardens and galleries, and even becomes a center stage to beloved annual horticulture exhibitions like Metro Health Christmas & Holiday Traditions, Chrysanthemums & More! and Fred & Dorothy Fichter Butterflies Are Blooming, which alone draws an astounding 180,000 guests in a typical year.

As our membership and attendance has grown, so has our need to widen this narrow footpath for the comfort and convenience of our members and guests. Doing so will greatly enhance the Meijer Gardens guest experience by increasing accessibility from the BISSELL Corridor to restrooms, drinking fountains and hand sanitizing stations, all the while allowing more people to fully enjoy the indoor container gardens, sculpture and educational opportunities within. Expanding this well-traversed space also gives way to expanded exhibition displays that bring even more surprise and delight on your every visit.

In total, the width of the BISSELL Corridor will increase from 13-feet to 23-feet at its narrowest point, and from 19-feet to-31 feet at its widest—a dramatic expansion that will allow several exciting enhancements. As with every element of our expansion, the space has been sustainably designed with accessibility and LEED-certification in mind.

Simply put: More space means more access. As you enter the BISSELL Corridor from the south, the wall on the right is being pushed out and curved to mirror the curve on the opposing wall. The current credentialing area will be moved, to make way for more efficient ticketing and traffic flow, as well as additional gathering space and greater enjoyment of Beneath the Leafy Crown by Michele Oka Doner. This distinctive floor sculpture will be fully refinished and expanded to accommodate the new layout. Restroom entrances have been relocated to the north wall across from the DeVos-Keeler Gift Shop, to accommodate larger groups coming and going from the Huizenga Grand Room.

Newly-expanded sculpture galleries will also be reconfigured, with square-footage that allow for more, and more enhanced, exhibition space. The Peter M. Wege Library has been expanded and relocated to the Courtyard Level of the Welcome Center just adjacent to Mimi's Garden, so that the Hoffman Family Auditorium can be moved into the library’s former location.

The BISSELL Corridor is slated for completion late 2021, with outdoor plantings ready the following spring. We appreciate your patience as our new campus continues to unfold and expand. There’s never been a more exciting time in our history, and we promise to keep you updated on every step of the journey. Follow along with all of these projects at MeijerGardens.org/growing.