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