Design : Development News

As part of a broader effort to encourage healthy eating and local food growing, the city of Minneapolis is crafting an Urban Agriculture Policy Plan, which it's asking for public feedback on via a couple of community meetings this month.  

The plan deals with land use, zoning codes, access to land, and design as it pertains to urban agriculture, according to city information.

It's an extension of Homegrown Minneapolis, another initiative that the city started in 2008 to "improve the growth, sales, distribution, and consumption of healthy, locally grown foods within the city," the program's webpage reads.

The plan outlines various recommendations for zoning changes that would allow for commercial food growing and full-fledged urban farming, explains city planner Amanda Arnold.  

For instance, it calls for urban farms in industrial areas and in certain commercial districts; allowing market gardens to be located on rooftops and the ground, and setting maximum lot areas so that market gardens fit into neighborhoods.   

Other recommendations emphasize urban agriculture in long-range planning and in conjunction with new development, as part of the landscaping.  

In general, she says, "The idea is to make it more feasible for growing in the city."

A number of other cities around the country, she says, are undergoing similar initiatives to address the growing trend toward urban agriculture. Seattle recently revised some aspects of its zoning code to allow for more local growing and Chicago is in the middle of doing the same thing. Meanwhile, urban farming has caught on in Milwaukee, Detroit, and Cleveland, according to Arnold.  

"Efforts around the country vary a lot," she says, adding that although the concept has been around for a long time, "I think the formalization and promotion of urban agriculture is a recent movement."   

The plan will go before the City Council in February.


Source: Amanda Arnold, Principal Planner, City of Minneapolis, Department of Community Planning and Economic Development
Writer: Anna Pratt

Interns in architectural firms don't often have the artistic freedom to develop new designs on their own.The annual St. Paul Prize Competition, open to unlicensed architectural professionals, gives them just that, says Eric Lagerquist, a spokesperson from the St. Paul chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The local group runs the contest.

The challenge this year was to come up with a park amphitheater to seat 150 people. It needed to facilitate live entertainment and educational presentations, making space for backstage and reception areas and more, Lagerquist says. 

Inspiration came from the Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan, which doesn't have an amphitheater--though the contest is purely theoretical and isn't connected to any real-world development plans, Lagerquist explains.

The winning design, which was announced in mid-December, was by Kar-Keat Chong and Daniel Yudchitz, who work at the Minneapolis architecture firm HGA. Chong and Yudchitz, who received $850 for their idea, positioned the amphitheater so patrons have a clear lake view at all times.

Often, action onstage will block out the scenery. In this case, people could "engage the natural environment the whole time while sitting in the amphitheater." 

Their understated design, which included a boardwalk leading to the lake, scored points with the jury because it "didn't detract from the setting," Lagerquist says. 

Alex Kang and Ji Hun Cho from PDI World Group, which is also in Minneapolis, were the runners-up, getting $50 for a "very grandiose solution," with beautiful graphics.

Jury members evaluated the seven entries on various criteria, including to what extent they dealt with sustainability and how well they fit the context.   

The contest was open to people working individually or in pairs who have architecture backgrounds but are unlicensed. Contestants have about a month to render their ideas after the contest begins. Previous contests have focused on plans for a light rail stop, a bike shed, and a fuel station for alternative fuels, Lagerquist says.  
 
Source: Eric Lagerquist, spokesperson from St. Paul AIA 
Writer: Anna Pratt

The vacant Victoria Theater in St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood is a monument to silent film, Prohibition, American folk music, and turn-of-the-century architecture.Some advocates hope that in the future, more people will know about its link to all these things.

Recently the city's Heritage Preservation Commission determined that there's a compelling case for granting the theater historic designation, and the City Council is likely to address the issue next month, according to city staffer Christine Boulware. 

The two-story theater, which dates back to 1915, is one of the few remaining examples of the early work of architect Franklin Ellerbe, Boulware explains via email. In the early 1900s, Ellerbe founded a firm that eventually became nationally prominent Ellerbe Becket.

The Victoria has a Beaux Arts-style brick and terra cotta fa�ade. Inside, the original screen and projection booth, along with decorative pillasters, portions of the balcony and second floor, and hand-painted landscapes are also intact.

Later the theater was renamed the Victoria Caf� and became a dance hall that put on lively cabaret-style shows. During Prohibition, the nightclub was the target of various controversial federal actions, including a raid. In 1927 the club's house orchestra recorded a jazzy piece called "Moonshiner's Dance" for Gennett Records, which was later included in Harry Smith's famed 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music on Folkways Records, one of the catalysts of the folk-music revival of the 1950s and 60s.. 

The theater is adjacent to the historic Raths, Mills and Bell, Inc. building which housed one of the city's earliest industrial-film production companies.

The city, which has six locally designated historic districts and more than 60 individually designated sites, previously tried to get the theater on the National Register of Historic Places, but it lacked some of the documentation necessary to prove its significance.

Now the preservation commission and some community advocates want the city to recognize the theater as historic. "The theater is part of a shared memory of the Frogtown community and an important link between generations," Boulware explains.

Additionally, some city officials and community members believe it could "be an anchor for redevelopment and revitalization of the Victoria [light rail] Station area and have a positive effect on the surrounding neighborhood."

Source: Christine Boulware, historic preservation planner for the city of St. Paul
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Soap Factory is one of the largest galleries nationwide that focuses on emerging talent, according to its executive director Ben Heywood.

But the historic wood and brick building which houses the edgy gallery, a one-time soap factory, is on the decline. 

The 48,000 square foot warehouse in Southeast Minneapolis, which dates back to the 1890s, has no heat or air conditioning, and on top of that, no insulation. As a result, "It's not a stable structure," Heywood says.   

To stop the effects of aging, the Soap Factory, which has made many other building improvements since it moved into the space in 1995, is preparing for a more ambitious rehab. Getting an efficient heating system in place, Heywood explains, is key. "We want to own this building into perpetuity."   

And finding green solutions to these issues, he says, is of strong interest. The gallery is looking into a passive air conditioning system, which would siphon cool air from the basement into the rest of the building during the warmer months, plus the possibility of a green roof, geothermal heating, and solar energy options.

Although going down any of those paths would require a big upfront investment, "the lifetime costs tend to be less," says Heywood.    

Ultimately, the rehab would preserve the look of the building,he says, adding, "The rawness is what works for our art projects."  

This year the gallery received a $46,800 grant from the State of Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund that the Minnesota Historical Society administered, to help get going with a structural review and heating survey, which are underway from MacDonald & Mack Architects and Dunham Associates.   

When those pieces come out next year, they'll inform a larger design plan for the building. Afterward, the gallery will take on a full-fledged capital campaign for the estimated $3.5 million project, Heywood says.

For now, "We're starting to assemble what we need to make strong pitches" to public and private groups, he says.
 
Source: Ben Heywood, executive director, Soap Factory
Writer: Anna Pratt

When some Prospect Park residents approached University of Minnesota city planner Greg Donofrio nearly a year ago about researching the rationales for conservation districts, he was game. Preservation topics are a special focus for Donofrio, who got some exposure to conservation districts during a stint in Philadelphia. 

Donofrio and his research assistants pulled together case studies into a report, which, it turns out, is one of the few pieces of literature on the concept, which first arose in the 1970s. Like historic districts, conservation districts are a planning tool for preserving certain aspects of a neighborhood, but they're often more flexible, explains Donofrio.

Across the U.S., the language and implementation of ordinances in these areas are extremely nuanced, he says.  

The findings were the subject of his mid-November talk, which the university's Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) hosted.   

While there's no hard and fast definition for conservation districts, he says, it's safe to say that many strive to maintain the overall character of a neighborhood as opposed to ruling on a building's paint colors or window types. By comparison, when it comes to historic districts, "local preservation commissions have a very strong authority and broad latitude to regulate appearance."  

Many residents of South Minneapolis's Prospect Park have voiced a desire to protect the area's old-fashioned buildings, but they found the highly restrictive rules of a historic district to be too off-putting. Some conservation districts' rules are just as detailed as those for historic districts, but in most cases "they tend to be broad standards," he says.

In Chapel Hill, N.C., and Iowa City, Iowa, which have huge populations of students and many absentee landlords, people embarked on conservation districts because they wanted homeowners to look after their houses more, according to research assistant Jessie McClurg. In Dallas, Texas, many quaint old homes were being demolished, destroying the small town feel, she says.     

One of the most interesting examples was in Cambridge, Mass., where "strong public participation is a component," Donofrio adds, explaining that community-driven boards provide leadership in a number of conservation districts.  

The model struck a chord with some Prospect Park residents from the neighborhood group Prospect Park East River Road Improvement Association, who "want to help shape the scope and format of the program," he says.      


Source: Greg Donofrio, assistant professor and director of the Heritage Preservation and Conservation Program at the University of Minnesota's School of Architecture, Jessie McClurg, architecture graduate research assistant

Writer: Anna Pratt

A 2.6-acre parcel in the heart of the storied Crocus Hill area in St. Paul has long been underused, says developer Ellen Brown, who has a plan to turn it around.     

Brown, who has often been a consultant to the city and the St. Paul Foundation on development issues, is partnering with Dick Zehring, the owner of MSP Commercial in St. Paul, on a proposal for an upscale condo complex for 180 S. Grotto St.

She and Zehring have entered into a purchase agreement with the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, which they're scheduled to close on in the spring.

On the site, the Wilder Foundation previously operated the Bush Memorial Children's Center, a residential treatment program for troubled youth. Following recent budget cuts, the Wilder Foundation closed the home and listed the property for sale, she says.     

Brown and Zehring's redevelopment proposal includes 39 condos, each a single story, to be spread throughout multiple buildings within a three-story complex.  

The condos will closely match the neighborhood's Victorian-era homes in style and scale, with features such as gables, clapboard siding, front porches, and more, she says.    

The place will have underground parking and a courtyard, while a caretaker will be hired to help with the property's upkeep.  

Brown believes the project, for which the price tag hasn't been determined, will appeal to empty nesters who already live in the neighborhood and want to downsize, but don't want to stray too far off. "That's the population we think that will find it attractive," she says.  

Brown says the proposal will help diversify the area's housing, which is largely made up of single-family dwellings. Additionally, after over a century of being off tax rolls, "this would get it back as a tax-paying property."  

The next step is a city rezoning process to allow for the planned number of units, she explains, adding that if all goes as planned, construction will likely be underway in the fall of 2011.

 
Source: Ellen Brown, consultant and developer
Writer: Anna Pratt

Architects from the University of Minnesota's Metropolitan Design Center led a workshop on Nov. 20 at the school, which dovetailed with an earlier talk about creating a framework for the future of the University District.

The district includes the university campus and its surrounding neighborhoods. 

At the event, which drew nearly 100 attendees, presenters Ignacio San Martin and Marcy Schulte challenged people to think in terms of connection, stressing sustainable, walkable communities.

Organizer Ted Tucker, a 40-year resident of the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood who serves on the University District Alliance, a board that's trying to improve the area, says it builds on the "transformational visioning" process that the group initiated.

The district faces unique challenges, with several large institutions in close quarters, such as the university, Augsburg College, and nearby clinics and hospitals. "We're trying to improve connections with surrounding neighborhoods so it's mutually beneficial," says Tucker.

At this early stage, the group is just trying to keep the lines of communication open as opposed to laying out any specific plans. "We want to have neighborhood residents talking to developers," he says. "They can get accustomed to what residents might be concerned about."

Conversely, he says, "Residents can hear about how developers operate and what they're looking for."

At the recent workshop, San Martin conveyed a perspective that "goes back to geology, landforms, and how the river works with adjacent neighborhoods and the ecology of the area," Tucker explains.  

On a map San Martin pinpointed 10 contested territories that are key places "where there are lots of different forces coinciding."  

For instance, there's the question of what should happen with a right-of-way that's known as Granary Road, which once served the Burlington Northern Railroad. It starts at one end of the Stone Arch Bridge and continues through the industrial area in Southeast, near the new TCF stadium. Part of it is planned to be a two-lane road. There's been discussion about extending it. Some people believe it should be used for trucks. "There are different ideas on the best way to use the land available," Tucker says.   

The events give residents and other community stakeholders the chance to hear ideas for the area and react, Tucker says, adding that their feedback will help inform the process as it moves forward.


Source: Ted Tucker, representative of the University District Alliance
Writer: Anna Pratt

A group of staff and faculty members from the University of Minnesota's College of Design got a chance to show off their local and global projects at the school's recent design outreach slam.  

Following five-minute presentations, the designers' colleagues at the college got to pick first- and second-place winners, who received $1,000 and $500, respectively, for professional development purposes, explains organizer Brad Hokanson, the associate dean for research and outreach at the school.  

In the mix was everything from sustainable design initiatives in rural Minnesota to rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

Landscape architect Rebecca Krinke was the audience's top pick for her public art project that includes a three-dimensional map of the Twin Cities; it shows places that represent joy and pain in individuals' lives, which audience members jumped in to help identify, Hokanson says.

The interactive map, he says, made for "deep conversations, engaging people with the process of their lives."

Jim Lutz, who came in second place, is bringing students to Haiti this spring. In collaboration with the American Red Cross, the small group will design a couple of grade schools, which they'll get up and running in an eight-week window. Students will prepare by taking some special courses at the university beforehand.  "It's a real immersion program," says Hokanson.   

Other presentations shed light on development and decay in East Africa's Zanzibar; good and bad inner city housing in the Twin Cities; and the efforts to digitize holdings at the school's Goldstein Museum of Design in St. Paul, among others.  

Part of the reason for doing the Nov. 12 slam, Hokanson says, was to highlight the wide-ranging work that the school is a part of, work that extends far beyond the campus. Insiders in the school often "only know what [they're] doing," he says. "This was a way for people to find out about what other people are doing."

Additionally, he says, their good work "shows the benefits of being here."

Source: Brad Hokanson, University of Minnesota College of Design, associate dean for research and outreach
Writer: Anna Pratt

No longer will parks simply be about 'turf and trees.'

A 21st-century park should be versatile enough to support various community activities that happen around the clock and throughout the year.

That's the challenge that's been laid out by the Mississippi Riverfront Design Competition (MRDC), which deals with a 5.4-mile stretch of the river, or about 220 acres starting in and around the Stone Arch Bridge and historic mills and heading north, according to project manager Mary DeLaittre.

MRDC is a joint project of the Minneapolis parks and its foundation, along with its creative partners, the University of Minnesota College of Design and Walker Art Center.  

Recently the group's 13-member jury culled through 55 submissions that arrived from all over the globe in response to its request for qualifications. They settled on four finalists including the Ken Smith Workshop, Stoss Landscape Urbanism, Tom Leader Studio, and Turenscape. The award-winning designers and planners hail from New York City, Boston, Berkeley, and Beijing.

Now, the finalists have a little more than a month to come up with plans.

It's a complicated and fascinating assignment, DeLaittre explains. For starters, the terrain goes from the picturesque to the industrial within overlapping local-to-federal jurisdictions. Additionally, Interstate-94 cuts off North Minneapolis from the river, which adds another wrinkle, says DeLaittre, who is also the founder and principal of local consultant Groundwork: The Foundation for City Building.
 
However, the teams won't be starting from scratch, she says. They'll be armed with a list of the area's resources to work with.

DeLaittre says she's looking forward to seeing the results, which will lead to a commissioned project to be announced in February 2011. 

She hopes that the competition inspires people to see the river as a connector and not a divider. "We want to orient the city around the river," she says, adding, "It's one of the three great rivers of the world."


Source: Mary DeLaittre, project manager for the Mississippi Riverfront Design Competition, founder and principal of Groundwork: The Foundation for City Building
Writer: Anna Pratt

After years of wear-and-tear, some city planners say that Peavey Plaza, a downtown Minneapolis amphitheater and fountain on Nicollet Mall, could use some sprucing up.
 
Although it's a popular spot for outdoor concerts and other public gatherings, some areas are "depressed and hidden from view," says Chuck Lutz, who is the deputy director of the city's community planning and economic development office.
 
A couple years ago, the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota named the plaza an endangered historic site.
 
M. Paul Friedberg, a prominent New York landscape architect, designed the 1975 plaza, which is defined by lots of concrete, hard lines and multiple levels. Friedberg also did the nearby Loring Greenway, a similarly-styled urban walkway. 
 
The fountain's mechanical system is failing, while the bronze-colored pumps and pipes are visibly distressed. "It's not looking so good," says Lutz, adding that its condition has even raised public safety concerns.
 
When Orchestra Hall announced in 2009 that it was embarking on a $40 million expansion and renovation of its adjacent concert hall, the city saw an opportunity to team up, Lutz says.Last year, the state legislature approved $16 million for both projects, with $2 million going to the plaza. The city still needs several more million dollars to pull it off, according to Lutz.
 
Right now, the city is soliciting ideas for the makeover from four finalist architects, including Close Landscape Architecture, Coen & Partners, Damon Farber Associates, and Oslund and Associates. The public is invited to sit in on interviews with the architects on Nov. 16 at the convention center. 
 
How much of the original design should be preserved is debatable. At this early stage, Lutz says, "We're not asking developers to come with designs already," Lutz says. "It's an opportunity to hear from the four competing firms."
 
 Source: Chuck Lutz, deputy director, Minneapolis community planning and economic development department 
Writer: Anna Pratt

There's no getting around it: far northern Minnesota struggles through long winters. That's something architects and others in the construction industry can relate to, as they try to survive the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

One Minneapolis firm has kept the lights on during the recession by doing high-quality design work for a demanding client--the federal government.

Julie Snow Architects' new U.S. Land Port of Entry opened for business recently in Warroad, Minn. The firm has developed a relationship with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), a federal agency with a Design Excellence Program that puts architects' plans to the test through an unusual series of peer reviews.

"It's like being back in school," says Matt Kreilich, design principal at Julie Snow Architects.

Julie Snow Architects has designed a U.S. Port of Entry in northern Maine. Another GSA project is the U.S. federal office building at Third and Washington avenues South in downtown Minneapolis, where the firm is one of several contracted to plan renovation work.

The Warroad project has already won a couple of prizes, including a GSA design-excellence honor and a regional WoodWorks award for use of wood in an institutional structure.

The design's strong horizontals pick up the dominant lines of the region's flat landscape. Cedar cladding covers three buildings that are linked by covered walkways. The wood has a black stain on surfaces that are visible from afar for contrast in the snowy environment. But the walls that people are in close contact with carry a clear finish that gives the structures a warm glow, Kreilich says.

An early inspiration for the design was the truck traffic that moves through the facility, bearing loads of cut wood, light colored but with dark brown bark.

The building was designed to meet LEED Silver certification and the firm may go for Gold. Interior furnishings like benches and the reception desk are made with scraps of cedar left over from the exterior.

The design is meant to "add warmth in a cold climate," Krelich says. "Climate is such an important factor to designing buildings in Minnesota. The weather is extreme, severe and constantly changing."

Source: Matt Kreilich, Julie Snow Architects Inc.
Writer: Chris Steller

Turning the tide along Minneapolis' upper riverfront from industrial dominance to recreational opportunity is the impetus behind a major design competition now underway. Organizers hope the winning plans will showcase features of the best in recent park design from around the world.

It's all about "urban regeneration," says Andrew Blauvelt, curator of architecture and design at the Walker Art Center. Minneapolis has a long history with its own extensive park system, but locals are open to outside ideas in planning their parks' future.

The Walker has teamed with the Minneapolis Parks Foundation and the University of Minnesota College of Design to explore "The Next Generation of Parks," as they've called their joint effort.

A "Next Generation" lecture series bringing national and international ideas into the local mix began last summer. It continues next week, when Peter Harnick, director of the Trust for Public Land's Center for City Parks Excellence, speaks at the Minneapolis Central Library. In November, Ed Uhlir, executive director at Chicago's Millennium Park, will give a talk at the same location.

But the riverfront design competition is the collaborative's first initiative that will put park-design innovations like those its lecturers have describe to the test locally--although moving beyond a winning concept isn't guaranteed.

The competition is open to all professional designers, with a shortlist picked in October and a winner announced in February. Blauvelt says the public will have a chance to see an exhibit of the competing entries at his museum in late January or early February, with a related event such as a public forum also likely to be held there.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, which has its own broad plan for the what it calls its "Above the Falls" parks, is also a competition sponsor. Minneapolis' riverfront revival of recent decades can be traced to another major design effort, titled "Mississippi/Minneapolis," a 1972 effort led by the city's planning department.

The Walker recently completed a summer-long park experiment of its own called "Open Field" on a grassy plot next door, with the space used for everything from performance to learning labs.

"Parks can be anything," says Blauvelt.

Source: Andrew Blauvelt, Walker Art Center
Writer: Chris Steller

As his firm's design for the world's tallest building rises in Shanghai, architect William Pedersen has designed something much closer to the ground--and, perhaps, his heart--for his alma mater, the University of Minnesota. The $72.5 million Science Teaching and Student Services (ST+SS) building is Pedersen's third major Twin Cities project, after the Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis and the St. Paul (now Travelers) Companies headquarters in his hometown of St. Paul.

Speaking from Kohn Pedersen Fox's New York office, Pedersen was full of praise for local partners HGA Architects, McGough Construction, sculptor Alexander Tylevich, and especially his university client. He seemed freshly enamored of the U of M, where he graduated from the School of Architecture in 1961 after playing Gophers hockey with teammate Herb Brooks. He acknowledged parallels between ST+SS and his 1983 Chicago landmark, 333 Wacker Drive, another building at a bend in a river that has "a fluidity addressing the natural context." Here are a few edited excerpts from the interview:

Q. Why were you attracted to the SS+ST project?

A. My commitment to the university was probably the most powerful attraction. Also, the U had a very strong philosophical concept: [to create] the most advanced teaching building in the United States. President Bruininks was very focused. Finally, it's the most dramatic site on any university campus. It faces the Mississippi River and it faces back to the campus. It forms a gateway to the East Bank campus with the Weisman [Art Museum by Frank Gehry]. The two need to form a relationship.

Q. What other challenges did the site pose?

A. The big glass surface facing west presented solar challenges. The vertical piers of stainless steel are not spaced uniformly. They're closer together where the building faces west--spaced rhythmically, not like an office building. I wanted the building to feel cheerful in all kinds of weather, even on a dreary day.

Q. How did you feel about the building once it opened?

A. I was so proud of my university and the way they [approached the project]--enormously progressive and optimistic.

Source: William Pedersen, Kohn Pedersen Fox
Writer: Chris Steller

In the midst of last week's wave of heat and humidity, all 58,000 square feet of space inside the City of Minneapolis' new Hiawatha Public Works Facility were comfortably chilled--but not with conventional air conditioning. Instead it was thanks to a geothermal system that brings the Earth's coolness (or warmth, in winter) up from underground.

That's only one of the features making the $9.5 million facility the city's greenest yet--and likely the fifth building in Minnesota to achieve LEED platinum status for environmental sustainability. (With LEED gold status already in hand, the city has an application for platinum status pending for the facility.)

The Hiawatha site in south Minneapolis has been home to the city's Public Works Department for more than a century. The 18 buildings once scattered across almost 10 acres are now consolidated into a single facility that houses department offices and the city's construction-vehicle maintenance shop. Indeed, the new building incorporates a brick structure that originally served as an infirmary for horses that pulled fire trucks and construction equipment, according to Senior Project Manager Paul Miller.

Miller takes most pride in the fact that even the 17 buildings that the city demolished got re-used, to the extent that the project actually gained LEED points during construction. Most projects lose points as waste material is hauled off, but "virtually 100 percent of what was there never left the site," he says. "That's the coolest thing."

The re-use wasn't limited to crushed gravel made from demolished structures. Miller says Knutson Construction and RSP Architects kept finding new uses for old building materials from the site--or even from off-site. The facilty's perimeter fencing served, in its past life, as the the steel-grid decking on the Lowry Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River, which is now being rebuilt.

Source: Paul Miller, City of Minneapolis
Writer: Chris Steller

After nearly 30 years below ground, Walker Library in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood is getting ready to surface with a new $7 million building.

"A library that is highly visible" is the stated desire of a citizens advisory committee that issued a vision statement for a replacement structure earlier this year.

That will be a big change from the current, almost entirely subterranean library building at Hennepin and Lagoon avenues, where in lieu of a visible library at street level, person-sized steel letters spell out L-I-B-R-A-R-Y.

Envisioned is an above-ground building that announces itself as "Uptown's library, with a strong daytime and nighttime street presence." Designers don't have to look far to find an example of such a structure: the original Walker Library is still standing, just across the street.

Hennepin County's Designer Selection Committee has recommended an architect from among the 21 firms that responded to a request for proposals issued last spring, says Lois Lenroot-Ernt, capital projects manager for Hennepin County Library. The firm's name remains under wraps, however, until county commissioners act on the recommendation, perhaps this month or next.

Designer selection doesn't immediately lead to library construction in every case. A new building in north Minneapolis to replace Webber Park Library is on hold until the county acquires a site.

The county allocated more than $1 million in its 2010 budget to acquire land at a new Uptown site for the Walker library as well, but the RFP is for a $7 million structure to be built on the current site.

Source: Lois Lenroot-Ernt, Hennepin County Library
Writer: Chris Steller