This project was part of the AIA Minnesota's annual Search for Shelter Design Charette weekend, hosted each February.  Our weekend agency was Alliance Housing that creates affordable stability housing solutions for job seeking individuals and families.  Our site was located in the Minneapolis Beltrami Neighborhood adjacent to the Minneapolis train junction and at the edge of the neighborhood.

 

Our team's design concept sought to create a welcoming place for people to call home, hence the iconic form of the structure.  We also intended to be as welcoming to the neighborhood as possible, using localized form, color and spatial awareness to create a cohesive and respectful design.

 

Materiality was inspired by the nearby railroad tracks, invoking a blending of industrialism and neighborhood.  The overall building form is also scaled in such a way as to merge with the fabric of the neighborhood.  The ability to be a good neighbor to the surrounding community, also extended to the creation of a dog walk open to the public and a raingarden to properly treat site runoff in a responsible and sustainable way.