Archives

1. Madison Municipal Building

   Constructed in 1929 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Madison Municipal Building originally functioned as a United States Postal Service facility and federal courthouse. The multi-phased renovation and reorganization uncovers and preserves the building’s historic character, while adapting it to serve 21st-century government functions. The project brings together various local government agencies, previously scattered across two buildings, to improve customer service and inter-agency communication. Certified LEED-NC v. 3 Platinum, the building transformation supports the health and well-being of staff, visitors, and the entire community.

2. Fortune 100 Company Facilities ESG Metrics & Recommendations

   MSR Design helped a Fortune 100 company achieve its next phase of corporate sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. We analyzed and documented the embodied carbon content in the corporation’s typical facility designs and used the results of this assessment to develop a prioritized set of recommendations for improving their buildings’ structures, envelopes, and sites, tailored to their specific climates and locations. MSR Design also reviewed the composition and estimated the embodied carbon of currently specified interior assemblies and finishes. We reviewed transparency documentation and other manufacturer data and used our expertise in sustainable materials to identify harmful materials that should be replaced to create healthier environments for employees and visitors.

   Collaborating with the organization’s internal team, we developed category-specific recommendations and created a concept for a net zero carbon facility. These results will serve as a guide for the company as it advances its vision to cocreate an equitable and regenerative future together with partners and communities.

3. Herman Miller Design Yard

   Completed in 1990, the complex incorporates modified prefabricated metal structures, silos, and houses, which were flexibly designed to accommodate changing uses and future expansion. Twenty-seven years after the Design Yard opened its doors, the complex is still living up to its original intent. The durable, low maintenance exteriors have aged gracefully. Open, flexible interior spaces have accommodated changes in how people work, as well as evolving technologies. The whole fits well into its rural environment and serves as an appropriate backdrop for Herman Miller’s classic modern pieces and new designs for furniture systems and products.

4. Aimia U.S. Headquarters

   Following the success of a previous tenant improvement project in a suburban office park, Aimia hired the same MSR design team to design its new space. With its new office, Aimia has moved to a mobile working employee strategy. Offering a limited number of dedicated workstations, the new environment instead features diverse spaces to accommodate varying work styles and meeting requirements. Employees can choose to work from home, in the office, or on the road while traveling, depending on individual schedules and needs. Three different color-coded (green, blue, and purple) neighborhoods provide differentiation and facilitate wayfinding.

5. Pioneer Public Television Station

   This fully modern workplace and broadcast facility supports direct public participation in regional arts, politics, land stewardship, and other issues relevant to residents of southwest and west central Minnesota and portions of Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota by broadcasting locally-produced programs, as well as national PBS programming. The building’s masonry exterior provides a visual connection to the geography, color, and texture of the adjacent Blue Devil Valley Scientific and Natural Area and Minnesota River Valley. All interior spaces connect to the prairie surroundings through large windows that offer views in each of the four cardinal directions. The building includes editing suites, TV broadcast studios, green rooms, office space, conference rooms available for public use, and an indoor service bay for Pioneer’s fleet of mobile broadcast studios.

6. SEI Corporate Headquarters

   Having completed the multi-phased development of SEI’s main headquarters campus over the past 20 years, MSR Design provided master planning and full design services for the company’s first building on the new north campus. The new building accommodates 785 staff and serves as a headquarters entry with a café, meeting spaces, and event gallery for campus staff and guests.