The New Year provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on previous accomplishments, set goals for the next year, and close out unfinished business.
Last year a handful of urban projects were started for this site, but never quite completed. Below are summaries of a few of these projects, with an open invitation to anyone that might be interested in picking up on any of the themes:
The Minneapolis Parking project and the Ivy Tower and Residences Construction Project (posts are here, here, here, here and here):
Ongoing photo projects intended to exhibit urban growth and development in the downtown Minneapolis area.
Photographers wanted: Updates and additions to these projects are certainly welcome and encouraged.
Minneapolis Skyways:
I began to piece together observations about the "culture" of downtown Minneapolis and its skyway system (for some background on the Minneapolis, I might suggest about.com, Wikipedia, the report "Evolution of the Second City", and the Rake Magazine).
The skyway system is interesting for several reasons, such as: the employment of architecture to specifically adapt to - and generally insulate ourselves from - weather and climate, the relationship between public and privatized "public-like" spaces, the skyways' similarities with shopping centers, and their impact on street-level activity in the downtown area.
I was also interested in trying to create a "best of" and "worst of" places in the skyway system.
Click here for more skyway photos, including the public flickr group page on skybridges and skyways.
New Construction Projects Located in Shopping Center Parking Lots:
When we left Minneapolis the city was experiencing an interesting spurt of activity in which a handful of multifamily projects (apartment buildings) were being constructed in shopping center/mall parking lots. The buildings were constructed in excess parking lot space and became additions to the shopping centers (apartment buildings dropped into the parking lots, rather than fully replacing the shopping center/parking).
I thought this was really interesting - how the new apartment buildings were both maximizing the use of space in the over-sized parking lots while also connecting residents with shopping/employment opportunities.
The Corridor Flats and Hiawatha Commons were two projects under construction last year on shopping center parking lots (within 1/2 mile of each on opposite sides of Hiawatha Avenue on Lake Street) nearby the Lake Street light rail stop (excellent examples of transit-oriented growth).
(Corridor Flat, left; Hiawatha Commons, right)
And with that, onto 2008…
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