flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Reconstruction Awards: Reinvesting in a neighborhood’s future

Reconstruction Awards: Reinvesting in a neighborhood’s future

The reconstruction of a near-century-old derelict public works facility in Minneapolis earns LEED Platinum—and the hearts and minds of the neighboring community.


By By Leslie Streicher, Associate Editor | March 1, 2012
The buildings rugged history of service is captured in the reused building mate
The buildings rugged history of service is captured in the reused building materials from the original structure. Bricks, timbe
This article first appeared in the March 2012 issue of BD+C.

Noise, odor, and visual pollution don’t usually come to mind when picturing a pleasant residential neighborhood in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. But for a tight-knit community in Minneapolis that has abutted the city’s Hiawatha Maintenance Facility for nearly a century, pollution in many forms was a daily reality.

The public works site was “a real eyesore,” said Marc Partridge, AIA, CID, LEED AP, a senior associate at local design firm RSP Architects. According to Steve Maurelli, a project manager at RSP, the buildings on the 10-acre site were sorely in need of repair and maintenance. The sense of irony—that a facility devoted to maintenance could itself be so ill-kempt—added to the long-simmering tension between the city and the residents of the adjacent neighborhood, who for decades felt that the city was exploiting them by allowing this blot on their visual landscape.

PROJECT SUMMARY
Hiawatha Maintenance Facility, Minneapolis, Minn.
Building Team

  • Owner/developer: City of Minneapolis
  • Architect: RSP Architects (submitting firm)
  • Structural engineer: Palanisami and Associates
  • MEP engineer: Paulson & Clarke Engineering Inc.
  • General contractor: Knutson Construction

General Information

  • Size: 33,0000-sf office space; 28,000-sf maintenance bay, 20,500-sf storage area
  • Construction cost: $10.8 million
  • Completion date: June 2010
  • Delivery method: Design-bid-build

Built in 1914 as a single brick warehouse and garage, the original building served as a horse infirmary for the local fire department. Population growth spurred the city to erect 18 more facilities, and for more than 90 years the Hiawatha facility has been home to the city’s streets and sewers department.

Tearing down the buildings and starting anew would have been a swift, albeit expensive solution, but the city wanted to preserve the rich history of the facility while also paying respect to the sensitivities of its neighbors.

“When we started this project, one of the goals was to recycle and reuse as much as we could,” said Greg Goeke, director of property services for the city of Minneapolis. The city’s Public Works Department has a “rich tradition” of public service, and repurposing the existing facilities was part of preserving that tradition. The result: about 98% of construction demolition waste from the project was reused.

Click here to view profiles of other reconstruction projects that have been recognized as part of BD+C's 28th Annual Reconstruction Awards.

New construction added space where needed without inflating the mass of the original structures. The original brick building was renovated to complement the surrounding community, while industrial materials were stored on the side of the building facing the highway, out of view of the neighbors.

A new circulating glass curtain wall brought light deep into the facility and made the exteriors more aesthetically pleasing. Recycled materials—metal beams, concrete slabs forming an exterior patio, and wood and bricks salvaged from the original blacksmith shop—lent an elegant but still understated feel to the façade.

According to RSP’s Partridge, an important goal of the renovation was to keep the building functional, not precious. “Public works is raw stuff, and we wanted the building to reflect that,” he said. “In terms of maintainability and the honesty of the materials, everything had a purpose. We wanted to make sure the palette was true to the work being done there.”

Effecting cultural change through design

Before the reconstruction began, city workers were isolated in their respective departments in various parts of the building, each group with its own lunchroom, kitchen, and equipment collection—a layout that lent itself to communication breakdowns and resulting inefficiencies.

2011 RECONSTRUCTION AWARD PRODUCT LIST
Hiawatha Maintenance Facility, Minneapolis, Minn.

Structural Steel: MacSteel
Overhead Door Aluminum: Haas
Structural Deck: Vulcraft-Nucor
Corrugated Metal: CMI Inc.
Lockers: The Locker Guy
Precast Concrete: FabCon
Aluminum Storefront Curtainwall: Old Castle
Ready-mix: Cemstone
Hollow Core Planks: Molin
Remix P/6473 Carpet: Milliken
Windows DH: Pella
Aluminum Storefront Entrances and Doors: Old Castle
Light Gauge Metal Items: Clarkwestern
Louvera: Nystrom
Linoleum: Forbo
Metal Stairs: Lapeyer
Una-Clad: C Firestone
VCT Tile: Daltile
Thermal Batt Insulation: Owens Corning
Insulation: Johns Manville
Gypcrete Green 2000: Maxxom
Alucobond: Alcan
Modular Carpet: Lee's Carpet
Gypsum Board: National Gypsum
Flagpoles: Poletech
Vinyle Tile: Daltile
Gymspum Board: USG
Vinyl Tile: Daltile
Tread Riser: Nora
Rubber Base: Roppe
Rubber Tiles: Nora
Translucent Panel: Kalwall
Misc. Metal Shapes: Nucor
Structural Steel Joists: Vulcraft-Nucor
Overhead Steel Doors: DoorLink

The Building Team—which, in addition to RSP Architects, included Palanisami and Associates (structural engineer), Paulson & Clark Engineering (MEP engineer), and Knutson Construction (GC)—set to work with the municipal administration to find ways to maximize workflow by opening up the floor plan. “We did a lot of programming to see what resources and tasks could be shared between groups, and then designed the space so that the groups were thrown together in shared experiences,” said Partridge. 

Today, the Hiawatha facility takes in 33,000 sf of office space over two floors, a 28,000-sf maintenance bay, and 20,500 sf of storage. It is home to five public works departments whose workforce has experienced something of a collective cultural change as a result of the new space adjacencies. “Making the building more open brought everyone together,” said RSP’s Partridge. Daily task work has improved, response times have quickened, and overall functionality has been streamlined.

“They now realize how much more collaborative their work really is,” he said.

A tough building complex that reflects the hardy work being performed inside—this is what the Building Team envisioned. And it works. “On a day-to-day basis, our employees have an environment that works much better for them without compromising [individual departmental] goals,” said the city’s Greg Goeke—and a great justification for the project to earn Gold honors from BD+C’s Reconstruction Awards jury.

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS a commitment to the community

During the planning of the Hiawatha Maintenance Facility, a directive from the city of Minneapolis required the Building Team—RSP Architects, Palanisami and Associates (SE), Paulson & Clark Engineering (MEP), and Knutson Construction (GC)—to achieve LEED Gold certification. But with the high level of reused materials—nearly 98%—the team was able to reach even higher.

“Not only does a public works facility need to protect the city, it also needs to protect the environment,” said Greg Goeke, the city’s director of property services. “We have high recycled content that made achieving environmental goals fairly easy.”

Old timber repurposed for millwork, recycled switchboards and crane rails, and salvaged metal beams supporting the site’s fueling station helped earn the project LEED Platinum for new construction, the city’s first municipal building to earn this rating. An old open-grate bridge that used to cross the Mississippi River was converted into a perimeter fence.

Artifacts of the building’s past are now displayed along the walls, paying homage to the building’s nearly century-long history. Old photographs, remnants of an old asphalt plant, and materials from the infirmary were reincorporated into the building construct.

The project’s high level of sustainability demonstrated the city’s commitment to the local community’s welfare, said Goeke. By the end of the process, residents who had started out mistrusting the project became its strongest advocates. “People now see that something built nearly a century ago still has value today,” he said. +

Related Stories

| Jan 13, 2014

Custom exterior fabricator A. Zahner unveils free façade design software for architects

The web-based tool uses the company's factory floor like "a massive rapid prototype machine,” allowing designers to manipulate designs on the fly based on cost and other factors, according to CEO/President Bill Zahner.

| Jan 13, 2014

AEC professionals weigh in on school security

An exclusive survey reveals that Building Teams are doing their part to make the nation’s schools safer in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy.

| Jan 13, 2014

6 legislative actions to ignite the construction economy

The American Institute of Architects announced its “punch list” for Congress that, if completed, will ignite the construction economy by spurring much needed improvements in energy efficiency, infrastructure, and resiliency, and create jobs for small business.

| Jan 12, 2014

CES showcases innovations: Can any of these help you do your job better?

The Consumer Electronics Show took place this past week in Las Vegas. Known for launching new products and technologies, many of the products showcased there set the bar for future innovators. The show also signals trends to watch in technology applicable to the design and building industry. 

| Jan 12, 2014

The ‘fuzz factor’ in engineering: when continuous improvement is neither

The biggest threat to human life in a building isn’t the potential of natural disasters, but the threat of human error. I believe it’s a reality that increases in probability every time a code or standard change is proposed. 

| Jan 12, 2014

5 ways virtual modeling can improve facilities management

Improved space management, streamlined maintenance, and economical retrofits are among the ways building owners and facility managers can benefit from building information modeling.

| Jan 11, 2014

Getting to net-zero energy with brick masonry construction [AIA course]

When targeting net-zero energy performance, AEC professionals are advised to tackle energy demand first. This AIA course covers brick masonry's role in reducing energy consumption in buildings. 

| Jan 10, 2014

What the states should do to prevent more school shootings

To tell the truth, I didn’t want to write about the terrible events of December 14, 2012, when 20 children and six adults were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. I figured other media would provide ample coverage, and anything we did would look cheap or inappropriate. But two things turned me around.

| Jan 10, 2014

Special Report: K-12 school security in the wake of Sandy Hook

BD+C's exclusive five-part report on K-12 school security offers proven design advice, technology recommendations, and thoughtful commentary on how Building Teams can help school districts prevent, or at least mitigate, a Sandy Hook on their turf.

| Jan 10, 2014

Resiliency, material health among top AEC focuses for 2014: Perkins+Will survey

Architectural giant Perkins+Will recently surveyed its staff of 1,500 design pros to forcast hot trends in the AEC field for 2014. The resulting Design + Insights Survey reflects a global perspective.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category


Urban Planning

Bridging the gap: How early architect involvement can revolutionize a city’s capital improvement plans

Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs) typically span three to five years and outline future city projects and their costs. While they set the stage, the design and construction of these projects often extend beyond the CIP window, leading to a disconnect between the initial budget and evolving project scope. This can result in financial shortfalls, forcing cities to cut back on critical project features.



Libraries

Reasons to reinvent the Midcentury academic library

DLR Group's Interior Design Leader Gretchen Holy, Assoc. IIDA, shares the idea that a designer's responsibility to embrace a library’s history, respect its past, and create an environment that will serve student populations for the next 100 years.

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021