Archives

1. Salt Lake City Northwesst Pipeline Building

   This project involves converting the historic Northwest Pipeline Building, which served as Salt Lake City’s public safety complex, into mixed-income housing and commercial tenant space. It is part of the Housing Assistance Management Enterprise’s larger vision for The Grove—a green, dense, mixed-use community focused on family-friendly housing and community amenities. The project will include rent-to-own and rental apartments. Focused on family-friendly design principles, the design features multiple play areas, a planned childcare center and health clinic, dog park, and ample green space shaded by native trees. Connected to the city’s emerging Green Loop, the project will incorporate parking reduction strategies, such as off-site and shared parking. The Northwest Pipeline Building conversion is the first phase of a comprehensive approach to redeveloping the greater site through extensive community engagement into a planned near-net zero, micro-community that will positively contribute to the vitality of the neighborhood.

   MSR Design is partnering with the Housing Assistance Management Enterprise (HAME), Xylem Projects, and Common Ground Institute on the project.

   View more project details here.

    

    

    

2. Washburn Lofts Penthouse

   This project involved a full renovation of a penthouse loft within a historic mill utility building that was converted into housing in 2003. Key goals for the project included maintaining homeowner health and well-being, supporting aging in place, and ensuring the reuse of existing items within the space through donations. 9.49 tons of items, with a $150,000 resale value, were donated to Better Futures, a nonprofit product resale organization, including millwork, appliances, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, fireplaces, doors, and hardware. Focusing on occupant health, the design team selected only Red List free certified and natural materials. Design features that encourage well-being include rooms oriented towards outdoor views, soft edges and natural materials that create a calming environment, and active use rooms (e.g., the media room and home office) that are acoustically separated from the rest of the home. To support aging in place, the loft includes wide pathways, flexible design elements for future accessibility upgrades (e.g., electrical in-wall wiring that accommodates the lowering of outlets and switches), easy-to-grasp cabinet pulls, and dimmable lighting.

3. Four Seasons Private Residences

   Located on the top six floors of Minneapolis’s new Gateway Tower, these new condos complement the building’s hotel and office space. The Four Seasons Hotel is the first five-star hotel in Minnesota, and the residences are designed to match that standard of luxury. Condo design options include two palettes: the Nordic palette, a calming, refreshing take on modern Scandinavian design; and the Urban palette, a sensuous, glamorous, more urbane scheme. The design features local materials (selected within a 500-mile radius) and natural, healthy, sustainably sourced materials. MSR Design also designed and selected all furniture and art work used in the public spaces, sales center, and model home. We are also currently designing one of the three penthouse condos.

4. unCommon Construction Minneapolis Houses

   MSR Design is providing a prototype design for new houses that will be constructed by students who receive high school credit and earn hourly pay and scholarship money as part of an educational program in the construction trades. The project is a joint venture between Minneapolis Public Schools, a charter school, and the nonprofit training organization unCommon Construction. To shape the design of the first house, students participated in a student-led design charette focused on developing typologies, the front porch design, and general aesthetics. Project partners USGBC Minnesota and the Center for Energy and the Environment (CEE) are helping to strategize and manage the LEED certification process and blower door testing. The garage for each home will be built first as a teaching space and for construction materials storage. The design accommodates legal limitations on tasks students can participate in, while offering students the opportunity to gain experience in a broad set of construction skills.

5. Orono Residence

   The design evolves from the agricultural legacy of the site’s fields and fence rows interacting with a new stone wall to establish precincts for new uses: windbreak, orchard, garden, lawn, and pool. Chosen to age gracefully, irregularly-cut courses of New York bluestone predominate the house inside and out. The stone contrasts with reclaimed materials, such as Douglas fir structural beams, teak flooring made of reused railroad ties from Africa, and antique ceramic tile and fireplace mantels. Gable rafters change slope along the length of the house, forming an S-shaped ridgeline that evokes an image of a sagging barn roof to represent the passage of time.

6. Paper Mill House

   Sited to be understated as visitors and guests arrive, the structure promotes strong visual connections to the site’s beauty. Flexibly designed with separate dwelling and entertainment wings, the home accommodates comfortable gatherings for groups ranging from 4 to 200 people. Spaces can also be easily closed off and scaled by furnishings to provide intimacy. The house is designed to use 70% less energy per square foot than a standard home, and with the planned addition of hydropower and solar technology, it should achieve near net zero energy consumption.

7. Aeon the Rose Housing

   This new housing complex includes 47 affordable and 43 market rate apartments, underground parking, and various indoor and outdoor community spaces. Using the Living Building Challenge (LBC) as a framework in the process, the designers placed equal emphasis on providing equity and beauty, meeting SB2030 goals for reducing energy 70% below baseline, reducing water use by 50%, and not significantly increasing construction costs over a conventional building. The design incorporates many small measures that add up to significant gains in each of these areas.

8. Aeon the Louis Housing

   This project involved transforming a brownfield, industrial site in the Prospect Park neighborhood near the Minneapolis/Saint Paul border along the light rail transit Metro Green Line into 63 affordable apartments and 7 market-rate apartments. The site is part of a larger stormwater management district developed through the Prospect North Partnership. Our site was designed to provide stormwater collection and infiltration for a several block area. The district is also an urban village experience with pedestrian-oriented design and high-density livability. Amenities include a community space, conference room, secure courtyard with a play area, bicycle storage for every apartment, and a fitness center. The project received Metropolitan Council TOD funding and MHFA LIHTC funding by complying with Enterprise Green Communities standards.

9. 101 Dupont Place

   Originally serving as the headquarters for DuPont de Nemours, Inc., the Dupont Building is an iconic building within the Rodney Square Historic District in downtown Wilmington. This project involved transforming the historic 13-story building into luxury apartments and office space. Through a neutral materials palette, the design honors the legacy of the building, while reinterpreting classic detailing with a modern approach to keep the building timeless. In an effort to preserve as much of the building’s historic fabric as possible, the executive conferencing suite with a two-story boardroom has been converted into a club room,  lounge, theater, and coworking space. Other amenities include a gym, dog wash station, and roof deck with dramatic views of downtown.

    

    

    

10. Mount Curve Modern Residence

    The design respects the existing aesthetic of this significant work of mid-century modernism—originally designed by University of Minnesota architecture professor Robert Bliss—while incorporating new amenities. The kitchen has been expanded into the former maid’s room and includes an adjacent sitting area with a fireplace. The design connects this space to the dining and living rooms and terrace beyond by opening an existing oak-clad wall, which is detailed to match the original. The master bedroom suite includes a bath with a Japanese soaking tub and custom cabinetry designed to match the existing millwork found throughout the home. Adjacent to the garage, the former chauffeur’s room has been converted into a guest suite.