Join us in Duluth for the 37th Annual Lake Superior Design Retreat
March 7-8, 2025

Registration will be available very soon!

The Lake Superior Design Retreat is an annual, winter weekend extravaganza in Duluth, Minnesota. Since its inception over 30 years ago, LSDR is an interdisciplinary and rejuvenating event that explores design ideas and creative processes that push boundaries in the worlds of architecture, planning, engineering, literature, craft, dance, music, the fine arts, the environment, and more. Come for inspiration, unexpected synergies, and commaraderie.

LSDR 2024 will take place at Zeitgeist Arts – 222 E Superior St. Duluth, MN 55802.
Zeitgeist Arts is “a nonprofit arts and community development organization committed to growing and sustaining a community that is inclusive, diverse, and equitable; artistic and vibrant; environmentally conscious; and a place where every individual can thrive. Working in partnership across our region, Zeitgeist connects like-minded organizations and people to collaboratively create programs that make lasting change”.

Lodging

A block of rooms has been reserved for LSDR attendees at the Sheraton Duluth Hotel (right across the street from Zeitgeist) at a rate of $189 per night. This block is available through February 13, 2025. Make your reservations now!

Visit duluthbandb.com for B&B options or call 1.800.4.DULUTH for other lodging suggestions.

LSDR Speakers

  • Ali Heshmati, AIA, is a senior architect at Henning Larsen and a founding
    partner at Laboratory for Environments, Architecture, and Design, a
    collaborative inter-disciplinary firm with studios in USA and Norway.
  • Ray Mattison is the lead designer at Duluth-based Design Eye Q, a creative
    industrial design studio. Design Eye Q has an exceptional product
    implementation record leveraging foundations in aesthetics, functionality,
    technology and ergonomics
  • Bradley Greenwald is Prelude Coordinator at MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. Bradley has performed opera, theater, music-theater, concert, and recital repertoire with several Twin Cities’ arts organizations, including Jungle Theater, Theater Latté Da, Open Eye Figure Theatre, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Guthrie Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, and more.
  • Kate Buehler McWilliams is an artist and historian who builds medieval musical instruments. These instruments — rebecs, vielles, citoles, and others — are precursors to the modern violin and guitar. She has built close to 100 instruments in her woodworking shop in Shoreview, MN, selling them to performers and universities worldwide. 
  • Sarah Kraning is an American abstract artist with synesthesia. Born with various auditory-based forms of the rare trait, Sarah experiences sound as color, texture, and motion. Her work is inspired by her multi-sensory experiences of sound.  

Continuing Education

AIA Minnesota is a registered provider with the AIA Continuing Education System. We anticipate up to 6.0 Learning Unit/Hours will be approved for the 2025 Lake Superior Design Retreat.