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
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Wednesday, April 11, 2018
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.
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