Downtown East/Metrodome LRT Station and Plaza
Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis needed a signature design for a two story below-grade parking garage, six story future office building, one acre public plaza, and Light Rail Transit Station that would serve as a downtown gateway for light rail transit passengers. HGA collaborated with Walker Parking to design and engineer a 450 stall below grade parking garage to be owned and operated by the City of Minneapolis. The parking garage structure was designed to accommodate LRT tracks and platform running diagonally across the block, dividing the land into two triangles of land. One half will accommodate a future office building with retail space on the ground level and direct access to the northern platform of the station. The remaining half of the site was dedicated to a mixed-use public plaza, designed in collaboration with public artist Andrew Leicester. The surface of the arcade facing the plaza is graced with colorful, ornately patterned brick mosaics that recall the diverse ethnic heritage of the adjacent Elliot Park residential community. The plaza is treated with a bold woven pattern of brick pavers for pre-game celebrations at the Metrodome, as well as community events and less formal civic activities. A 60' high red brick tower rises from the southern tip of the block, evoking the rounded ends of nearby brownstone rowhouses and the historic grain elevators along the river's edge.