Minneapolis’ Embattled Peavey Plaza Lands on National Register
Peavey Plaza’s fountains have fallen into disrepair. (Keri Pickett)
Peavey Plaza, downtown Minneapolis’ celebrated modernist square completed in 1975, fell into disrepair—two of its three iconic fountains are no longer operational, and its sunken “garden rooms” have helped harbor illegal activity. Landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg’s plaza became the focus of a high-profile preservation battle two years ago, with The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) leading the charge to rehabilitate Peavey and city officials pushing for demolition.
Now TCLF has announced the plaza has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The “park plaza” style Friedberg forged is evident in Peavey’s blend of hard concrete squares and American-style green spaces. It joins 88,000 sites of architectural heritage on the list, only 2,500 of which have significance in landscape architecture.
Preservationists sued the city last year to contest city council’s claim that there were “no reasonable alternatives” to demolition, hoping to win protection under Minnesota’s Environmental Rights Act.
Minnesota Taps HKS for New Vikings Stadium
An image from HKS Sports & Entertainment Group, submitted as part of its proposal for the new Vikings stadium contract. (Courtesy HKS Sports & Entertainment Group)
Twin Cities sports fans may be most excited about Sunday’s victory on the field, but a twinge of that satisfaction could be due to the team’s new stadium. Minnesota’s Sports Facilities Authority chose HKS architects to design a new home for the NFL’s Vikings.
HKS also designed Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and Cowboys Stadium in their home base of Dallas—two of the most high-profile NFL construction projects in recent memory. A decision on the lead contractor for the project has yet to come down, but news of the $975 million stadium’s designer is the latest announcement in a long and at-times contentious political process that subsidizes professional sports in Minneapolis.
Face-painted fans turned out to city council meetings as the deal cleared hurdles. With respected stadium architects on board, supporters may anticipate validation for their use of public funds. Those opposed maintain only time will tell, no matter the designer.
Spiritual Construction: Minneapolis Cemetery Blends Old and New
The Garden Mausoleum at Lakewood Cemetery. (Image courtesy Paul Crosby.)
When a bucolic cemetery in Minneapolis began to near capacity, its owners worried a large expansion might dampen the landscape’s pastoral charm.
Despite its comparatively large footprint, the 24,500-square-foot Garden Mausoleum in Minneapolis’ Lakewood Cemetery is in harmony with the existing mausoleum and chapel that it sits between, as if in meditation. The 141-year-old non-sectarian cemetery occupies 250 acres in the city’s Uptown neighborhood.
Adaptive Reuse, Aisle 7: How An Empty Big Box Can Give Rise to Community
THE MCALLEN MAIN LIBRARY, ONCE A WALMART. (IMAGE COURTESY MEYER SCHERER & ROCKCASTLE)
An average Walmart tops 100,000 square feet. With more than 600 stores nationwide, the company has a mighty footprint. And when a store goes under, it can be somewhat of a crater in the local real estate market.
One Walmart in McAllen, Texas—about 15 miles from the Mexican border—got a major facelift from Minneapolis-based Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, who also have an office in Marysville, Md. They won an ALA/IIDA Library Interior Design Award for their work converting the defunct big box store into a library.
Vikings Commit to Minneapolis…If They Get A New Stadium
It’s a story that’s been told in city after city. If you build it, they won’t leave. Professional sports teams hold cities hostage, playing on the loyalty of fans to get expensive, taxpayer-funded facilities, while displaying little civic loyalty of their own. Anyway! In Minneapolis, the Vikings have said they won’t decamp for Los Angeles if the city and state agree to help build a new $975 million stadium on the site of the Metrodome, according to the Star-Tribune.
Bridge 5721: Historic Restoration and Relocation
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The 3-D laser scan allowed engineers to look at the bridge even after it was dismantled (O.N.E.)
Laser scanning technology helped a Minnesota bridge find its third home
One of 24 historic bridges chosen for preservation by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Bridge 5721 is one of the state’s only remaining wrought iron bridge structures. The bridge was originally built to carry pedestrians over a river in Sauk Center, Minnesota, in 1870, before modern steel production methods had become available. In 1937, the bridge was disassembled and moved to span the Little Fork River near the town of Silverdale. But more than two years ago, the structure began its journey to a third incarnation, this time as an equestrian and pedestrian bridge for the Gateway Trail in the town of Stillwater, near Minneapolis. Because of the bridge’s provenance and the desire to keep its wrought iron parts intact, the Minnesota DOT worked with new owner Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and structural engineers at HNTB and Olson & Nesvold Engineers (O.N.E.) to collect crucial data for the rehabilitation using new 3-D laser scanning technology.
Continue reading after the jump.
Minneapolis Riverfront Redesign Team Selected
(Courtesy TLS/KVA)
The Berkeley, California and Boston-based team of Tom Leader Studio and Kennedy & Violich Architecture has won a competition for the potential redevelopment 5.5 miles of the Minneapolis Riverfront. Their proposal, called RiverFIRST bested those by rivals Ken Smith, Stoss Landscape Urbanism, and Turenscape, and includes constructed wetlands for stormwater management, manmade islands for habitat, new districts for green industry among other features.
While no specific segment of the plan has yet been identified for development, the team will be given a commission by the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board.
Metrodome Roof Gets Remixed
We told you yesterday about the sad state of Minnesota’s snowy Metrodome. Today the deflated dome gets some funk, courtesy of University of Minnesota arch school grad Brice Aarrestad. (Insert your own ‘raise the roof’ joke here.)
Metrodome Deflated
Following a heavy snow storm this weekend, the roof of the Minneapolis Metrodome collapsed. This video shows the structure creaking under the weight, the roof fabric tearing, and snow pouring in on the field. It looks like a scene from The Day After Tomorrow. Blair Kamin was quick to point out that though the stadium was designed by the Chicago office of SOM, the roof was the work of New York-based Geiger Berger Associates. Buffalo, New York-based Birdair Structures maintains and supplies the roof fabric. No one was hurt in the collapse. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, this is the fourth time roof has ripped and deflated. Officials are still determining how low it will take to repair the structure.
The Skyway’s the Limit
That's not just any glass house. It's a converted skyway. (Courtesy City Desk Studio)
As architects struggle to find work, a good place to turn has been the “green” market, especially adaptive re-use (“weatherizing,” as the president likes to call it). Well, here’s an extreme case: On Friday, Curbed noticed a proposal by Minneapolis firm City Desk Studio to transform a skyway into, among other things, a lakeside retreat. Better yet, it was being offered on Craigslist. For $79,500. Our jaws firmly dropped, we decided to call the firm up to find out more. Read More
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