STOSS MALTZAN UTILE STREAMLINES

STREAMLINES is about the sheer unfi ltered experience of direct contact with the river and river life, in many ways, at multiple moments. And it’s about weaving these experiences back into the everyday city. STREAMLINES is also a project about working ecologies, ecological systems and dynamics put to work to clean, to re-constitute this working riverfront, and to guide a longer-term transformation of the city fabric.

MULTIPLE HISTORIES, MULTIPLE CURRENTS But it is not about a single green line along the river. Rather, this project is about multiple threads, multiple strands; it evokes the stories and lives of the people who live, work, and play by the river’s edge and have done so for centuries. It builds from the rich histories and evolving identities of the Mississippi River, the ecological, economic, social lifeblood of the city, and of the continent. And it puts in place a series of working and operational landscapes, green infrastructures, and landscape-based urban fabrics that will guide this transformation for the next generation of city-dwellers, just as the Grand Rounds did for 20th-century Minneapolis.

WORKING ECOLOGIES The parks must embrace a new mind-set for park-making, in which they are rendered engines for change, for ecological vibrancy, and for sustainable development. And they must not simply displace viable industry with open space. We want to make open spaces and urban fabrics that continue to work, that are rendered industrious: that seed and produce energy, food, and habitat; that clean soil and water; and that redirect waste resources to create new productive and hybrid ecologies, new provocative and engaging urban experiences.

INFRASTRUCTURE AS PARK, PARK AS CITY To be truly transformative, the parks must take on a broader territory. Thus, the proposal’s individual strands (river park, botanical overlooks, sporty circuits, energy forest, city and river islands) accumulate over time and expand the river’s reach into the urban fabric. New infrastructures are rendered civic and social: catalysts, connectors, hosts of activity, and iconic orientation devices. In doing so, parks and park infrastructures can be fully infused into the rich mosaic of Minneapolis’s neighborhoods.

STREAMLINES 1 STRATEGY

The scope and scale of the project are quite ambitious—remake the riverfront, remake the city for next century. And the process for getting there is complex. So how do we do this?

CLAIM THE RIVER. The river is out of reach up here: it is not part of the everyday experiences of city residents, and it is not part of the cultural imagination. This is in part due to the layers of infrastructure and industry that have occupied the larger river corridor between the neighborhoods of North Minneapolis and Northeast Minneapolis.

Before anything happens, then, we must lay claim to the river as civic space, and as a territory for multiple uses: ecological, industrial, and social. By doing this, the river itself becomes the park before the parks exist. And the transformational period is rendered as exciting, engaging, and robust as the parks that will emerge from it.

SEED THE PARKS. There is much work to be done, much to be cleaned and prepared for human and ecological life, funding to be garnered, communities and neighbors to be consulted, plans and designs to be drawn. This will take time.

We want to leverage time, and the tendencies of the various ecological, hydrologic, and functional systems and processes invoked, to help seed and stage the parks—to prepare the ground and, in part, to do the work of construction for us. Remediation fi elds, holding landscapes, working spaces for green technologies; emergent river-islands (and habitats), water cleansing infrastructures, and new park and city islands; and the patient anticipation of new programs, activities, and resources that can be tapped down the line: all this sets the stage for parks and infrastructures that will accumulate over a number of years. The parks will be both opportunistic and catalytic: fl exibly taking advantage of new partnering and siting opportunities as they arise, while also instigating a multidimensional transformation of existing and emergent neighborhoods.

ELABORATE NEW MODELS FOR CITY-LIFE. This is not simply a park plan. Rather, it is a strategy for transforming the larger urban fabric, and the everyday lives of locals and visitors alike. It does so by tapping into larger systems—infrastructural and ecological—and by extending its physical reach across the river, east-west into outlying neighborhoods, north-south to landscapes and towns that constitute the longer Mississippi corridor.

The strategy is fl exible, and therefore sustainable—environmentally, urbanistically, and economically. It leverages underutilized and waste resources; fi nds effi ciencies in collaboration and cross-fertilization between urban and environmental systems; incorporates bridges and streets and light rail corridors as park infrastructures; and builds new synergies between work, public life, and the landscape fabrics that support them. Importantly, it is a 50- to 100-year plan, a series of parks and neighborhoods for the next generation of Minneapolitans. In this way, the various proposals contained herein will help guide these places’ gradual transformation, making for new kinds of parks and public infrastructures, for new working ecologies and landscapes and city fabrics that will come to revitalize Minneapolis for decades to come.

2 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE UPPER HARBOR TERMINAL SITE

NORTH LOOP

NICOLETTE ISLAND

ST. ANTHONY FALLS MARCY-HOLMES

HISTORIC MILLS DISTRICT STONE ARCH BRIDGE

STREAMLINES 3 MISSISSIPPI STRANDS

RIVER + FLOODPLAINS +

EXISTING PARKS +

RIVER PUBLICLY PARK OWNED LANDS BOTANIC (CITY + MPRB) OVERLOOKS + = SPORTY RIGHTS-OF-WAY + CIRCUITS UTILITY CORRIDORS ENERGY FOREST + RIVER ORCHARDS CONTAMINATED SITES + VACANCIES +

NEW PARTNERS, NEW CONNECTIONS PROPOSED PARK FRAMEWORK

4 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE WEBBER- CAMDEN

RIVER PARK MARSHALL TERRACE MCKINLEY

GREENHOUSE NORTH DISTRICT MINNEAPOLIS NORTHEAST MINNEAPOLIS INDUSTRIOUS PARK

NORTH CITY RIVERFRONT ISLANDS

NORTH LOOP

DOWNTOWN

ACCESS DISTRICTS + NEIGHBORHOODS The North Riverfront is re-networked with walking + running Districts and neighborhoods are crucial to a successfully re- paths, recreational trails, bicycle lanes, sporty circuits, a energized riverfront. Five neighborhoods are imagined here. riverwalk, skating loops, bridges, street cars, and light rail. Although each is distinct, they share a common thread: all are Safe multi-modal corridors allow current industrial uses to connected directly to the Mississippi and to parkland, vital to co-exist with new social and recreational activity. the future of Minneapolis and its citizens.

STREAMLINES 5 CLAIM THE RIVER!

ACTIVATING The river up here needs an identity—people need to re- connect to it. Infrastructural corridors and industrial uses have long separated North and Northeast neighborhoods from the river, so that its physical closeness is imperceptible.

Thus, to change people’s perceptions, and to re-make the northern riverfront within the cultural imagination and daily lives of city residents, we propose a three-part activation strategy. These projects are easy to execute and are purposefully conceived to have a signifi cant impact along the entire north riverfront, from the Falls to the city’s limits; they also buy us time, while site preparation, property acquisitions, and design drawings proceed.

To this end, we imagine dancing lights in the sky, bobbing luminescent rowboats, and fl oating barges re-fashioned as bandshells, amphitheaters, and swimming pools—all creating new communities, new experiences on and along the river before the parks exist. This activation phase would also include the designation of fi ve river access points on both sides of the river, located at existing parks and boat ramps, and at moments where city streets meet the river.

FLOW INTERSECT FlowIntersect is a light-scale light sculpture by interactive public artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer that allows people to see the meandering of the river across the city. The installation consists of a number of powerful search lights placed at regular intervals along both shores of the Mississippi River. The lights are visible from a ten mile radius. Each pair of facing lights (one on each side of the river) is controlled together; the beams of light create two vectors intersecting directly above the river. The apex of their intersection changes in height and position based on data from sensing devices that will be placed in the river and which will measure speed, turbulence, and other environmental data; in this way, the light responds to the changing dynamics of the river itself. Importantly, their positioning and timing can be coordinated so as not to interfere with bird migrations or nearby uses.

LIGHT-BOATS Light-boats are luminescent fi berglass rowboats which offer residents and visitors immediate access to the river above the falls. The boats, which will become a signature feature of the project, resemble white contoured pods during the day and glow evocatively at night.

6 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE AMPHITHEATER FLOATING / MOBILE PERFORMANCE PLATFORM

PERFORMANCE CANOPY USED AT MULTIPLE SCALES

The light-boats can be adapted with outboard motors, with SMALL-SCALE USE SINGLE OR DOUBLE SIDED sails and centerboards, and with runners for ice for use in all PERFORMANCE PLATFORM seasons and in response to many forms of weather. Their use and number can be expanded as the parks develop over time. EXISTING BARGE ADAPTIVE REUSE RE-FASHIONED BARGES SHELTERED STAGE FOR LARGE-SCALE USE Through the adaptive reuse of existing barges for recreation and performance, the project also engages the Mississippi’s rich history as a working river and transforms the river for

SHORE-BASED AUDIENCE occupation by a broader public. The barges’ mobile character FOR LARGE-SCALE USE allows them to activate the river at multiple locations, acting as mutable catalysts which can extend and reinvent how the people of Minneapolis understand and experience their riverfront.

The Swimming Barge creates an unprecedented opportunity for recreation in the river’s midst by inserting a series of pools, a diving platform, an outdoor terrace, and a cafe on an existing barge. Organized as a pleated topography of pools and platforms that echo the barge’s linear character, it provides a new vantage point to view the riverfront and the city beyond.

A second barge provides an extraordinary platform for performance on the water: the Amphitheater Barge’s twinned shape creates a seating bowl above the barge deck below, providing an intimate space for performance. Beneath its lifted form is a broad space sheltered from the elements, a stage for larger-scale performances where the audience remains on the adjacent shoreline or on individual watercraft. An oculus at the barge’s center links these two levels, allowing cables anchoring its cantilevered wings to pass between, framing the sky above.

These barges can be mobilized early on and can work as ferries, bringing people from the Central Riverfront, through the locks, and up the entire length of the North Riverfront.

STREAMLINES 7 RIVER PARK

WORKING FIELDS The river park is very much a working landscape, one that cleans the site—and the city—as it grows. It supports a full range of social and recreational activities, and ecological life: nesting sites, skating canals, fi elds for fl ying kites, vibrant meadow habitats, shady groves for lazy days on the river.

A water-cleansing system structures the park. Rain washes particles of soil, grit, and other materials off streets, parking lots and roofs in nearby neighborhoods. This stormwater is intercepted by a sedimentation chamber and periodically emptied; clean extracts of the sediment can be used in shoreline and island building. Wetlands of nutrient-tolerant species receive the stormwater next, removing fi ne sediment PHYTOREMEDIATION + PLANT SUCCESSION and pollutants; here indigenous wet meadow species such as SHOWING REGULAR COPPICING OF POPLARS AND sedges, cordgrass, blue-joint and wildfl owers would thrive. EVENTUAL UNDER-PLANTING OF SUCCESSIONAL FOREST Meanwhile local runoff in the park fl ows through fi lter strips and into polishing wetlands connected to the system. In downstream retention and detention areas, deeper water stands for longer periods, and nitrogen is removed in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Plants here are able to root in water and withstand fl ooding: arrowhead, bur-reed, aquatic sedges, bulrush, and other marsh plants. Water then fl ows into the riffl e stream and bivalve bed. All along are native plants, naturalized soils, and insect life which provide organic matter to the stream, forming the base of the food chain. The highly oxygenated, shallow water supports several mussel species: cylinder mussel, giant fl oater, fat mucket, creek heelsplitter. At the deeper mouth of the stream, the black sandshell, plain STORMWATER CHANNELS + ISLAND FORMATION pocketbook, white heelsplitter, Lilliput and strange fl oater WATER CLEANSED FROM NEARBY URBAN FABRIC would be found. Mussel species common to big rivers will GENERATES RIVER ISLANDS + DELINEATES UPLAND mingle with the stream species in the side channel and “ISLANDS” IN THE PARK perhaps downstream of the island at the stream mouth.

RIVER ISLANDS Restoration of island habitats is proposed as part of this design effort through benefi cial use of dredge maintenance (bed material load) from the navigation channel and settlement of non-cohesive material from proposed stormwater tributaries. Restoration of islands will be encouraged at select locations, adjacent to the navigation channel (in depths ranging from 5 to 7 feet NGVD), as well as the outlet of the proposed stormwater channels. Initial construction of islands is proposed to be performed with available dredge material. Stabilization of the material with small armor stone around the perimeter will be performed to ensure stability INDUSTRIAL CULTURAL COMPLEX of the islands; natural stone (rock vanes, groins) may also ON NEW PARK ISLAND be employed to alter the local hydrodynamics, encouraging deposition and sedimentation, allowing the islands to “grow.” 8 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE INDUSTRIAL CULTURAL COMPLEX The Upper Port’s domed concrete structures are reimagined as an intensive yet surreal cultural complex that re-makes a piece of the river’s industrial history. Two existing domes include an experimental stage supporting a Guthrie satellite location and a visual art space supporting a Walker Art Center satellite. A third dome is planted, and a fourth used as a rock climbing center. Finally, two new domes will be constructed: the fi rst, clad in a louvered rainscreen, houses a recreational natatorium; the second, clad in ETFE pillows, is a greenhouse. To the west, a retail distribution center and parking structure spans I-94, green roofs across its stepped FRESHWATER MUSSEL FOOD CHAIN top connecting the park to the residential district to the west, A KEYSTONE SPECIES FOR WILDLIFE + HABITAT allowing the residents of North Minneapolis to fi nally connect DEVELOPMENT to the river so close to them. Piers stretch from the adjacent riverbank, providing a permanent home for the performance and swimming barges.

STREAMLINES 9 BOTANIC OVERLOOKS

INFRASTRUCTURAL ECOLOGIES The Botanical Overlooks are a new kind of public garden— one that draws on the waste heat of the power plant and infuses the city with a new kind of ecological cyborg: an infrastructural park in which regional native ecosystems are contrasted with more fanciful and exotic environments. These are provocative urban botanical gardens fed off the waste of the city: a place for yellow warblers and steamy hot tubs, for native cottonwoods and exotic bromeliads alike.

WASTE HEAT AS SOCIAL CATALYST Waste heat produced by the boiler at the nearby Xcel Energy power plant is transported through a network of super- GREENHOUSES AT EDGE OF GARDEN insulated distribution pipes to nearby park overlooks. The warmest heat powers a series of public outdoor hot tubs that overlook the river. The waste heat in the pipes gradually diminishes in temperature as it moves through a sequence of public swimming pools and greenhouses, which serve as sheltered community gardens and interior winter gardens for neighbors. As the distribution pipes make their way back to the power plant, they pass under plazas situated nearest to Marshall Street; here heat can be released to aid in snow melt during the winter, thereby reducing salt and contaminant runoff to the river. During warmer months, these plazas are “planted” with more tropical and exotic species of plants, like orange trees, that can be wheeled out in pots from the adjacent greenhouses. (When the power plant is not running, this system can be fed by a fi eld of solar hot water heaters on adjacent lands.) DISTRICT WASTE HEAT CYCLE BOILER - HOT TUB - SWIMMING POOL - GREENHOUSE - STORMWATER, TOO SNOW-MELT PLAZA These social activation strategies are overlaid with water cleansing strategies as the gardens reach back into nearby neighborhoods via water boulevards. These extended blue strands collect and clean stormwater and bring it through the overlook parks as irrigation.

Together, the hot pools, greenhouses, and botanical gardens provide a luxurious and sustainable resource for both recreation and relaxation. And they signal the region’s Nordic roots and winter culture in a most evocative way.

10 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE STORMWATER BOULEVARDS REACH BACK INTO EXISTING NEIGHBORHOODS + SERVE AS RIVERFRONT CONNECTORS

STREAMLINES 11 ENERGY FOREST

CITY-STRANDS We can’t just work along the river—we need to extend and expand its infl uence in order to allow the river to begin to permeate all aspects of life in the city. In this way, we want to engage a broader territory—layers and strands set back from the river, like an expanded social and civic fl oodplain.

To this end, we imagine re-making the I-94 corridor as an energy forest, fi lled with trees that create new vegetated habitats, reduce heat radiation, and clean air pollutants from passing vehicles. The forest consists of native trees adapted to local climate and soil conditions: hackberry, basswood, northern pin oak, bigtooth aspen, smooth serviceberry, fi re- fruit hawthorn, red cedar and white pine. When mature, each tree removes 1-2 pounds of pollutants from the air annually: ozone, particulates, nitrogen and sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide. Each tree also takes up carbon dioxide and stores the carbon in its wood and roots, giving up oxygen to the air and reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases. Within the forest, the nighttime temperature will be several degrees cooler than surroundings, lessening the air conditioning burden in nearby homes. And by intercepting and transpiring rainfall, the forest removes up to half the water in the corridor, which would otherwise be diverted into storm sewers.

Where the forest extends to the east to infi ltrate and help structure the proposed Industrious Park, it expands to include integrated stormwater treatment swales and infi ltration groves in this new urban neighborhood.

LANDSCAPES OF ENERGY ALTERNATE WIND TURBINES Along the median of the highway, vibrating energy generators CORNELL UNIVERSITY VIBRO-RESEARCH GROUP, LED BY can be erected to capture prevailing winds that move through MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PROFESSOR FRANCIS MOON and across this corridor; they can also be powered by the turbulence created by passing vehicles on the highway. The proposed Vibro unit, currently in research and protoyping phases of development, is less expansive, more adaptable to urban conditions, quieter, and more bird-friendly than traditional wind turbines. Power can be transmitted to adjacent neighborhoods or sold directly to the grid.

The central median can also be used, eventually, for a new high-speed regional light rail expansion, bringing effi cient and sustainable public transportation to the seam between North Minneapolis neighborhoods and the new Live + Work district and park precincts to the east. Light rail stations can be integrated into proposed air rights developments and building bridges at designated cross-streets.

12 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE SPORTY CIRCUITS

LANDSCAPES FOR WORKING (OUT) Over time, we imagine re-occupying leftover spaces along the existing rail spur in the Northeast (between California and 2nd Street); this spur is currently used only occasionally and at low speeds to service the industries along it. A whole new precinct of sport fi elds, ball courts, and playgrounds, connected by biking and walking and running circuits can emerge incrementally over time—eventually creating an active, energetic zone of sweaty bodies and sports. Consolidation of neighborhood recreation fi elds here will also free up existing fi elds near the river, allowing those spaces to be converted to new river-specifi c park uses.

Over time, the linear connective spine that ties these spaces together can grow; as fewer trains use the rail spur, recreational use can increase. The spine will eventually continue across the river on the existing BNSF rail bridge, which can be modifi ed to accommodate small sports programs over the river; it will then extend as pedestrian circulation south through the Circuit Plazas at the east edge of the Industrious Park. (The rail line can be left in place for occasional trains and special-event streetcars). In the winter, this spine can be fl ooded to create a 3-mile linear skating track that connects to downtown.

Green fi ngers extend laterally from the corridor into existing neighborhoods, establishing new forest linkages from these communities to the sports fi elds and west to the river.

ENGINEERING SOILS Given that most of the soils that will be utilized in this area may have some level of contamination and/or compaction, an essential aspect of the successful execution and long-term sustainability of the design will be the management of soil resources. This is true of the project at large: from sports fi elds to stormwater bio-treatment units to creation of new ecosystems, soil management and design is central to success.

All soil resources with each project area will be characterized and inventoried; this database will form one of the important overlays in decision-making during planning. As each phase is designed and moves into documentation, soils appropriate for each use-context will be chosen from the soils inventory within that phase or designed to be manufactured from available earth components. By using soil management principles developed from the Sustainable Sites Initiative, the project will stand as a national example for both economic and ecological stewardship.

STREAMLINES 13 CIVIC-MINDED INFRASTRUCTURES

A NATURE CROSSING B CAMDEN BRIDGE C CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY BRIDGE A D SAUNA BRIDGE E AIR-RIGHTS BRIDGE BUILDING B F CURLING BRIDGE D C G AIR-RIGHTS BRIDGE BUILDING E H LOWRY BRIDGE (UNDER CONSTRUCTION) I RIVERWALK CROSSING J SPORTS BRIDGE / BNSF RAILWAY K RIVERWALK CROSSING G L AIR-RIGHTS BRIDGE BUILDING F M BROADWAY BRIDGE H N PLYMOUTH AVE. REPLACEMENT BRIDGE O PLYMOUTH AVE. BRIDGE P WELCOME CENTER BRIDGE I Q NICOLLET ISLAND RAILROAD BRIDGE K R HENNEPIN AVE. BRIDGE L S THIRD AVE. BRIDGE J T FALLS LOOP BRIDGE M U STONE ARCH BRIDGE

O N BRIDGES: ICONIC DESTINATIONS A family of bridges linking the river’s banks makes physical connections between districts; creates new icons along the long, linear site; and establishes new spaces for occupation P and activity hovering over the river. The bridges are not only places to cross, they are destinations: stepped benches Q and sloped roofs become fl exible platforms for events and recreation, with the skyline in the distance. They provide moments of reprieve from winter cold, spaces to stretch out R in summer warmth, and new gathering spots for July 4th. Water in its many forms is the focus: swimming pools, hot tubs, skating rinks, steam and sauna rooms. Importantly, this is a menu of possibilities: each bridge enriches the overall S framework, but all are not required to fulfi ll its promise. T The Bridges are linked to one another via the Riverwalk and the parks, and they link commuters from Northeast Minneapolis to a proposed light rail corridor on the western edge of the site. Integrated photovoltaic panels and fi sh-safe turbines at each structural pier allow the bridges to function EXISTING U as zero-energy structures, providing energy for lighting and PROPOSED conditioning. Together, they create a more sustainable and integrated network of living, transit, and recreation.

14 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE FALLS LOOP BRIDGE At the site’s southernmost edge, a fi rst bridge arcs across and around Saint Anthony Falls, providing an extraordinary, direct experience of the falls and the power of the Mississippi before making its way north along the entirety of the river’s edge. Passing beneath the lower and upper spillways and in and around the larger bridges which crisscross the site, the Loop Bridge links the central riverfront with the river’s northern reach; its wood-clad deck provides new vantage points, integrated seating, and a warming hut. FALLS LOOP BRIDGE

PROGRAM BRIDGES New bridges north of the Falls incorporate a diversity of programs, each a nexus that both bridges the river and connects to the activity along its banks. Spanning from 4th Avenue at the northwest edge of downtown to Boom Island Park and Nicollet Island, the crossed form of the Welcome Center Bridge connects these precincts and creates a new front porch for Minneapolis; its multiple decks can house the Park Board and the National Park Service, welcoming visitors as they come from downtown into the park. A Sports Bridge WELCOME CENTER BRIDGE inserted upriver on an existing rail bridge tapers to include an ice rink and a seating bowl which surrounds it, echoing the recreation located along this spine as it continues north. Curling and Sauna Bridges could be deployed further north, the latter to connect Saint Anthony Parkway and North 40th Avenue, and branching to connect to the Riverwalk north and south. Its sauna and steam rooms utilize waste heat from the adjacent power plant; at its eastern end, it widens into a series SPORTS BRIDGE of terraces, framing the river below.

REPLACEMENT BRIDGES The structural and programmatic logic which informs each of these bridges is expanded to a larger scale, addressing key replacement bridges over time, as conditions warrant. Beginning with the Plymouth Avenue Bridge, the fi nk truss that supports the program bridges is extended above and below the adjacent roadway, creating a light, economic structural solution that is also an extraordinary icon at this key junction between the central riverfront and the river’s northern reach. SAUNA BRIDGE

I-94 CORRIDOR BRIDGE BUILDINGS Community-building development can span the I-94 corridor at Broadway, Lowry and Dowling, incorporating public program (community centers and small-scale retail), and connecting the riverfront, a new regional light rail corridor, PLYMOUTH AVE. REPLACEMENT BRIDGE and the neighborhoods of North Minneapolis.

STREAMLINES 15 NEW URBAN PROTOTYPES

INDUSTRIOUS PARKS LIVE + WORK NEW CATALYSTS FOR URBAN LIVING Real estate development is not merely a vehicle for the funding of parkland. Instead, our proposal includes clearly defi ned and differentiated new neighborhoods that spawn new ways of living in the city and along the river. Rather than mimic other successful local neighborhoods such as the Mill District or propose generic mid-rise residential development, each of our proposed new neighborhoods is seen as an exciting—and marketable—alternative to existing development patterns and lifestyle choices, in Minneapolis and across North American.

Importantly, the plan does not require the removal of active industrial uses—but it does anticipate ownership and use change-overs that could come. It also acknowledges that both park construction and the implementation of new urban districts will facilitate the eventual and inevitable redevelopment of areas along West River Road as mixed-use riverfront extentions to downtown. The Industrious Parks Live+Work district has been conceived as a model mixed-use district, a revitalized and enhanced INHABITING THE RIVER IN NEW WAYS 21st century industrial district that is near the city center The Mississippi and its new park Strands are the impetus and rail and truck distribution networks. Rather than a here. A new and comprehensive landscape infrastructure single-use neighborhood, live/work loft housing is proposed for the City will catalyze unprecedented kinds of urban on the upper stories above warehouse and industrial spaces neighborhoods along and within the network—neighborhoods (diagram at below left). The proposal is also predicated that will be as distinctive and unique as existing areas of the on an intensifi cation of industrial and commercial uses to City. Our proposal imagines three such neighborhoods, each provide a better job base for the adjacent North Minneapolis projecting a specifi c lifestyle and mix of uses. Importantly, neighborhood. each of these neighborhoods both leverages and provokes specifi c landscape responses that are local to the cultural A new water and landscape infrastructure brands this blue- history, hydrology, and ecology of the diverse sites. green district for downtown, in which rigorous sustainability standards and lush green infrastructure will support and attract companies that promise blue-collar job growth for the

MEDIA TOWERS next generation. The introduction of new fi ngers of parkland and feeder swales will not only make the area perform better ecologically, but also will provide a foundation upon LIVE / WORK UNITS which the City can market the neighborhood to potential investors and attract start-up companies into live/work 20,000 SF X 3 FLOORS = 60,000 SF 60,000 SF / 1,500 SF = 40 UNITS studios. Although some additional public investments will 20 X 1.5 = 30 JOBS 20 X 1.5 = 30 RESIDENTS SOLAR ENERGY & be needed, the proposed framework maximizes the potential STORMWATER MANAGEMENT for public realm and infrastructure implementation by the private sector, establishing new guidelines to govern property redevelopment without burdens to development pro formas.

LIGHT INDUSTRIAL /RETAIL Along its east edge, working freight yards may double as

50,000 SF / 2,000 SF/P = 25 JOBS public plazas when not in use, linked along the existing rail 10,000 SF / 1,000 SF/P = 10 JOBS spur to the River Park to the north, and to the Sporty Circuits to the northeast. This corridor accommodates a streetcar line, for special events or should densities further north warrant.

16 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE greenhouse district industrious park city islands

GREENHOUSE DISTRICT CITY ISLANDS GARDEN OVERLOOKS RIVER ORCHARDS

The Greenhouse District re-imagines underutilized parcels on The City Islands are envisioned as a natural extension of the East Bank of the river as sites for public gardens, focused the lifestyle and character of Nicollet Island: city living, in a on public greenhouses that also contain associated community park, on an island, in the river. Rowhouses and townhouses amenities. This neighborhood is seen as a natural complement are scattered among working orchards and gardens, which and extension of the existing community of Northeast are tended by the island community but are accessible to Minneapolis. The landscape and greenhouses take advantage everyone. These edible landscapes offer an affordable food of west- and south-facing orientation and a slight rise in the source and an opportunity for citizens and school-children to grade of the riverbank to create the ideal conditions for four- engage in a working, learning landscape. A landscape spine season community use. structures the new neighborhoods, and with small pedestrian bridges and walkways, establish clearly public routes across Multi-purpose pavilions—greenhouses, schools, community the new and reconstituted islands. gardens, recreation centers, and exhibition halls—will be perched along the riverfront, providing programmatic The scale of orchard and marina housing to the south refl ects connections between this burgeoning community and the the scale of the nearby Boom Island Park neighborhood. new riverfront, amenities that will engender economic Buildings grow in size and shift orientation to the north, away development upland that is unique to the existing community. from established neighborhoods and in response to the river’s Implementation of these new destination pavilions and bend. The largest buildings within this zone branch apart in amenities will rely on limited public capital investments and section, allowing views over and under into the surrounding sustainable operating structures spearheaded by promising parkscape. All are set above the 100-year fl oodplain. pavilion users. Although it is too early to determine particular programs for particular pavilions—they must correspond This world-class urban park and variety of housing typologies, to a more rigorous study of community needs and likely governed by strict guidelines that mandate sustainability implementation partners and long-term stewards—there are requirements and design quality, will help bring new people to several fi nancial models for these pavilions that can prove Minneapolis. It will not just accommodate projected growth, fi scally prudent. but also will become a driver of that growth. Capital and operating funds for parkland development could easily come from master developers, an estates management model under which long-term leaseholds or property disposition provide the funds to support the public realm.

STREAMLINES 17 FIRST STEPS

STAGE 0 CLAIM THE RIVER Reclaiming the river as public space can happen immediately and with minimal investment. FlowIntersect captures public interest and imagination, while the reclaimed barges and boats offer new recreational opportunities in the short-term.

Beyond this, three areas of strategic importance are identifi ed for priority implementation. Together they offer a mix of sustainable landscape strategies, locations / politics (east- west-central), and cost-revenue models. STAGE 1A BUILD FIRST BOTANIC OVERLOOK This dramatic addition to the park system establishes a new benchmark in sustainability and civic experience. Alternate sites on either side of the power plant are noted: the southern is MPRB-owned, while the northern is Xcel-owned (a potential land-swap acquisition with parkland to the east). OR STAGE 1B SEED + STAGE PART OF RIVER PARK A toehold on the west side could also begin immediately, on the city-owned dredge pile site, but known contaminants would take time to be addressed. Nevertheless, fi rst stage remediation and planting of a phyto-fi eld would initiate a process of transformation; stormwater channels and scaffolding for the fi rst river islands could follow. STAGE 1C PREP CITY ISLANDS (APPLES + $$) Initial work down south could begin to transform Boom Island Park and the lumber yard site (now MPRB-owned) through excavation of channels, reinforcement of shorelines, and island construction. Early orchards and neighborhood development could be established thereafter via public- private partnerships.

18 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE INVESTMENTS

First Steps* Unit Price Quantity Cost Range

CLAIM THE RIVER FlowIntersect Temporary (4 week light rental + installation) $30,000/light 30 lights $900,000 Permanent (lights + foundations + construction) $176,000/light 20 - 30 lights $2.7 mil - $4.1 mil Light-Boats (custom boats) $18-25,000/boat 30-50 $540,000 - $1.3 mil Amphitheater Barge - Barge Retrofit (assumes donated barge) $2.0 mil/barge 1 barge $2.0 mil Swimming Barge - Barge Retrofit (assumes donated barge) $1.3 mil/barge 1 barge $1.3 mil Barge Access Docks $200,000/dock 1-2 docks $200,000 - $400,000 FIRST BOTANIC OVERLOOK (9 acre southern site - landscaping + pools + utilities) $14.5 mil RIVER PARK SEED + STAGE $3.3 mil Site prep + initial planting 13 acres $2.6 mil Construct first river island 1 island $670,000 PREP CITY ISLANDS (excavate channels, reinforce new islands, initial island landscaping; 50 acres) $34.8 mil private investment % TBD

PUBLIC PRIVATE Total Project Costs (include first steps where applicable)** INVESTMENT INVESTMENT

RIVER PARK: testing, working fields (phytoremediation), stormwater polishing channels, new shoreline $250-350 mil $37 mil minimum reinforcement groin construction for all new emergent river islands, park landscape, industrial cultural complex (retrofitted domes, new domes) $45 mil $442 mil CITY ISLANDS: private/public collaboration, excavation and reinforcement of river islands, river orchards, civic park landscape, low, mid and dense developments.

BOTANIC OVERLOOKS: greenhouse district buildings, botanic garden renovation including hot tub, $230-445 mil $90-120 mil pool, and wetlands, neighborhood stormwater infrastructure, district waste heat system and solar water heater back-up; private residential development, parking

INDUSTRIOUS PARKS: stormwater infiltration streetscape, live/work typologies, circuit plazas $18 mil $83 mil

BRIDGES: falls loop bridge, floating riverwalk, land riverwalk, welcome center bridge, plymouth ave replacement bridge, air-rights bridge Broadway, riverwalk crossing 1, riverwalk crossing 2, sports bridge up to $458 mil $370 mil minimum /BNSF railway, air-rights bridge Lowry, curling bride, air-rights bridge Dowling, sauna bridge, nature crossing Weber

TRANSIT INFRASTRUCTURE: Street car line running on the existing rail line, 5 stops at plaza stations $5.5 mil TBD along the length of the western site. Coincidental bikeways and transitscape in the right-of-way

ENERGY FOREST: forest landscape, vibrowind turbines $28.2 mil $0

SPORTY CIRCUITS: sport fields, park landscape, streetscape forests $31.5 mil $0

* estimated construction costs ** estimated construction costs + soft costs

all costs are preliminary; investments to be made over 20-50 years

STREAMLINES 19 IMPLEMENTATION

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NEW TYPES OF ACCESS The proposal is founded upon the fact that high quality public The creation of the new neighborhoods, public parks and realm design, high performance sustainability infrastructure, amenities represents a unique opportunity to integrate and market-appropriate land uses create new economic streetcar lines into the new riverfront community, providing development opportunities – opportunities that will fuel the a catalyst for sustainable transit-oriented development in next generation of downtown growth in Minneapolis and live-work neighborhoods that are within an easy ride of allow the City to enhance its ability to attract a greater share downtown. Potentially, two branches can easily connect with of jobs and residents in the decades to come. The economic the planned West Broadway streetcar, providing a quick development infrastructure of our proposal is organized downtown connection along North Washington Avenue. Their around catalytic and pragmatic visions for three distinctive unique alignments allow each to provide high-frequency neighborhoods lining the northern Mississippi Riverfront, transit only steps away from the entire district. each with its own economic purpose, corresponding design strategy, and resource-effi cient implementation structure. These new modes of transport create the opportunity to bring transit access and measured amounts of transit-oriented Some of the methods and tools that will be utilized work infi ll development to an existing residential neighborhood, as private and public partnerships, like the City Islands. helping to provide new transportation options, accommodate The plan for this area makes it possible to secure master additional residents without impacting local traffi c, and developers for the island. Depending on the timing of support new local retail with no need for extra street or market recovery and the potential for public investments, parking capacity. By introducing the streetcar early in the several strategies could be implemented to realize this vision, redevelopment cycle of this western riverbank, an entire including requiring capital and operating funds for parkland community can evolve successfully and sustainably in a place development to come from master developers. Likewise the that traditional paradigms would call “inaccessible” and initial investment in areas like the Industrious Park will bring “isolated” due to the lack of direct I-94 access and the barrier people and attention to this new growth district. Although of the river itself. Instead, this neighborhood can serve as the some additional public investments will be needed, the heart of the combined sustainable transportation district that proposed framework maximizes the potential for public realm can communicate quickly and easily with downtown and its and infrastructure implementation by the private sector. surrounding neighborhoods without the use of the car.

BUILDING MOMENTUM SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION In addition to these next generation visions for land use and Beyond physical interventions, the sustainable transportation development, we propose a low-cost investment strategy that district would incorporate the latest thinking in the will ensure this plan is actionable and catalytic in the short ownership and operation of properties along each riverbank. term: we will leverage local resources and international best This separation of parking cost from property cost would practices to program the riverfront and the river itself with essentially unbundle the auto-oriented culture from high quality art, cultural programming, and community events productive living or work space – helping to reward those that attract attention to the effort immediately and maintain who choose not to own a car with lower property lease it through the decades-long process required for successful and ownership costs, while motivating those who choose implementation. FlowIntersect will be commissioned. Boats to lease or purchase parking to maximize the return on will be launched. Art shows will be produced. Volunteer their investment by sharing its cost and minimizing the events will coordinated. Concerts and performances will overall supply of parking. Sustainable transportation will be initiated. All of these programming opportunities, some also facilitate the creation of neighborhood alternative produced by neighborhood community-based organizations, transportation collaborative that operates like a transportation others by the philanthropic community, others by the management association, offering transit passes, guaranteed Parks Board, will be geared towards bringing people to the rides home, ride-sharing services, car-sharing, and riverfront and establishing a national brand for the North information about biking and walking networks. Riverfront district as a whole, attracting new media attention as well as interest from new employers and residents.

20 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE BRANDING

MANY STRANDS, ONE IDENTITY The graphic identity for the project is based around a set of lines, a set of strands that come together. They’re multicolored, and they’re in different weights, but together they form a kind of diverse whole, something that both weaves around the river and envelops it, and looks towards the future.

One of the key points of this graphic identity is also that its not a static thing; it is always in motion. Like the river itself, the graphic identity isn’t simply a fi xed mark—it is something that can move and evolve over time. It can be animated, and it can take a number of forms. This identity can be used on everything from a bus to a sign to a t-shirt or a scarf. It works at all scales, is immediately recognizable, and carries forward the optimistic energy of this proposal.

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE, LOCAL LINEAGE In thinking about this identity we also wanted to acknowledge the history of Minneapolis. The primary display typeface is called Bryant Condensed and was designed by Eric Olson, a Minneapolis-based type designer. It is a rounded, monoline sans-serif typeface derived from early industrial lettering kits. As such, it has a connection to history, a contemporary and open feel, as well as a direct connection to the Twin Cities.

The primary font is complemented by a secondary typeface, which you are reading now: Mercury, a beautifully refi ned contemporary serif typeface by Hoefl er & Frere-Jones type foundry. It is used for subtitles and general text on brochures and in reports like this.

STREAMLINES 21 GROWING THE STRANDS OVER TIME AND ACROSS THE CITY

YR 0 STREAMLINES IS STRONG + DISTINCT, YET FLEXIBLE.

Parks accumulate over time, as sites and resources materialize. STREAMLINES IS GENERATIVE. YR 5 It prepares the ground, catalyzes development, and re- imagines city- and river-life. STREAMLINES IS TRANSFORMATIONAL.

We want people to make connections to the river when they least expect to. YR 10 STREAMLINES IS ROOTED...

...in the pragmatism and science of fl ood control, of ecology, of environmental remediation, of stormwater cleansing, and of sound economic development principles.

YR 15 Importantly, it’s a strategy that stakes new claims to the river, that seeds new growth, and that broadens the river’s reach. It draws on the energy of the Mississippi, in order to re-energize Minneapolis; it extends the experiences and qualities of being at the river throughout the neighborhoods north of the falls.

And it’s an energy that can eventually fl ow downstream, too, carrying rich sediments and working ecologies along YR 20 Minneapolis’s entire Mississippi corridor. A RIVER, A PARK, & A CITY, INEXTRICABLY INTERTWINED: ENVIRONMENTAL DYNAMICS, HEARTY WORK, AND RICH SOCIAL LIVES YR 25 TOGETHER WEAVING MULTIPLE THREADS FOR A NEW GENERATION, JUST AS THE MISSISSIPPI HAS WOVEN FOR CENTURIES.

22 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE + =

GRAND ROUNDS MISSISSIPPI STRANDS THE NEXT GENERATION (EXISTING) (EXTENDED) OF PARKS

STREAMLINES 23 TEAM + CREDITS

STOSS LANDSCAPE URBANISM Xcel Energy, Energy Constituent Group LANDSCAPE + URBANISM The Mississippi River from the Stone Arch Bridge, 2005, photographer unknown (http://www.fl ickr.com/photos/popabigballs/4217503511/sizes/l/) MICHAEL MALTZAN ARCHITECTURE Hennepin Avenue Bridge at night, 2007, photographer unknown (http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5777761) ARCHITECTURE + INFRASTRUCTURE Reconstructing St. Anthony Falls, by Peter Gui Clausen, 1869. Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society UTILE, INC. St. Anthony Falls, by Henry Lewis, 1848-1849. From “First Came the River” URBAN DESIGN National Park Service Minnesota National River and Recreation Area Brochure RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER, ANTIMODULAR INC. Hennepin Bridge, 2010. Courtesy of Applied Ecological Services INTERACTIVE PUBLIC ART Falls of St Anthony, High Water, photograph by Benjamin Frankiln Upton, 1818. Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society CLOSE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE + Looking up West bank of Mississippi River when sawmills and lumber piles abounded, 1890, photographer unknown. Courtesy of Minnesota Historical ASSOCIATE LANDSCAPE + PLANNING Society Mississippi Logging Industry, photographer unknown. Courtesy of Min- APPLIED ECOLOGICAL SERVICES nesota Historical Society ECOLOGY + NATURAL RESOURCES

BURO HAPPOLD SUSTAINABILITY + INFRASTRUCTURE

HR & A ADVISORS, INC. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

PLANDFORM LTD ECOLOGY + ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

PROJECT PROJECTS IDENTITY + ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS

MOFFAT NICHOL WATERFRONT + HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING

NELSON\NYGAARD TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

DAVIS LANGDON COST ESTIMATION

PINE & SWALLOW SOIL SCIENCE

JIM TITTLE, NICE PICTURES VIDEOGRAPHY

ERIC SILVA AUDIO

24 STOSS MALTZAN UTILE