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Wednesday, April 11, 2018

The Post Office Student Work Goes Public




After more than a year of research into the reuse potential of the downtown Minneapolis Post Office, which included a research report by a graduate student funded by Target Corporation and RSP Architects, and an urban-design studio of 12 graduate students, taught by MDC research fellow Tim Griffin and RSP partner, Rich Varda, the project was unveiled on April 2nd to the public and the press at a lunchtime event in Minneapolis’ IDS Crystal Court. The event included displays of the students’ drawings and models, and a large 3D printed model of the section of the downtown surrounding the post office site, and was attended by sizable crowd, that included print, online and broadcast media, and City, Hennepin County, and Minnesota State leaders. The attentive crowd listened to remarks by Jay Cowles from the Downtown Council, David Wilson from Accenture, Jono Cowgill, Minneapolis Parks & Recreation Board District 4 Commissioner and, MDC Director Tom Fisher, who all conveyed the significance of the project.  Tim Griffin and Rich Varda fielded questions during the event, underscoring how the project could change the face of the downtown Minneapolis riverfront. The memorable moment happened when Mayor Jacob Frey didn’t just welcome the audience, but approached the model, removed the post office pieces, and arranged them on the Crystal Court stone floor to explain how he could see parts of the building being reused and other parts being demolished. Brandishing the models like giant Legos, Frey lived up to his reputation, as David Wilson said, of being a hands-on mayor. Tom Fisher

The MDC Goes to the Big Apple




MDC Director, Tom Fisher, was invited to give a talk as part of the Design, Climate Change, and Equity lecture series at New York University’s Wager School of Public Service. Summarizing the contents of his 2013 book Designing to Avoid Disaster and his 2016 book Designing our Way to a Better World, Fisher looked at a set of strategies that cities like New York City, lying in vulnerable locations along coastlines and over fault lines, might explore to avoid the fate of other coastal communities hard hit by extreme weather events, like Houston and New Orleans. Fisher looked at strategies of protection around cities, such as the wetlands proposed around Manhattan; strategies of accommodation, such as plans to create water channels to accept future flood waters in New Orleans; strategies of mobilization, such as making cities more mobile as Fisher advocated in his recent piece in the Huffington Post on “Cities as Sitting Ducks;” and strategies of appropriation, such as those used by the homeless in seeking shelter wherever they can find it.  Tom Fisher

Monday, April 2, 2018

Mpls. Post Office Building, Reuse Design Studio



With funding from Target and RSP Architects, the MDC studied the Minneapolis Post Office and its site as the basis for future reuse. Based on that initial research, MDC research fellow, Tim Griffin and RSP partner, Rich Varda, led a studio of 12 graduate students, who looked at a range of ideas for reusing the building, reimagining the site, and reconnecting downtown Minneapolis to the Mississippi River. Their work, along with a 3D printed model of the area, went on display in the IDS Crystal Court on April 2, 2018, and conversations about the reuse of the building continue.  Tom Fisher


Site design above by UM Architecture studio student team, J. Mills, S. Powers & A. Voch.
For additional site designs and reports, link to the project page at http://www.designcenter.umn.edu/projects/post-office.html.