SECOND + SECOND COURTYARD

Minneapolis, Minnesota

2019 TEN x TEN Studio

Team: TEN x TEN, Snow Kreilich Architects, Elan Design Lab, Meyer Borgman Johnson, Major Mechanical, Collins Electric, Weis Builders, TM Light, Marx|Okubo Associates, New History Consultants, Serigraphics, Summit

Client: Solaris Redevelopment

Status: Completed in 2020

*Photo Credit-TEN X TEN Studio + VONDELINDE

SECOND + SECOND, a new North Loop mixed-use development by Solaris Redevelopment Corp. and Weis Builders, broke ground on a set of large surface parking lots in July 2018. When complete, the property will house 156 residential units and approximately 22,670 square feet of commercial space. The gray brick and metal clad building will be a minimalist and restrained structure that pays subtle tribute to the North Loop’s industrial past.

The landscape approach for the project is similarly responsive to the site’s history and its remnant work yard past, recalling stacks of timbers and piles of ingots that fed the brass and aluminum foundry in the new proposed design features. The character of the existing site had a material grittiness and a “wildness” full of emergent vegetation. At street level, a “pedestrian portal” or walkway, connects N 2nd St to a courtyard in the middle of the block, creating an intimate and human-scaled experience.

A variety of gray stone and pre-cast concrete pavers create a delicate, tactile carpet for the plaza, broken by sculpted landforms planted with lush native plantings. Custom designed pre-cast and timber furnishings create gathering nodes for a variety of group sizes.

Material And Texture Studies

Spatial Studies Furniture