Top left to bottom right: Cedar Riverside Opportunity Center; Downtown East Urban Master Plan; Guild Crisis and Recovery Center; Mankato Clinical Science Building at Minnesota State University; Silver Ramp; and Second Harvest Heartland Headquarters, Volunteer Center and Distribution Center

For high-resolution images of individual projects, contact Sheri Hansen.

MINNEAPOLIS, June 17, 2021 — AIA Minneapolis announces six Merit Awards to projects designed by AIA Minneapolis architects that tell a story of excellence beyond design; emphasize public interest design; and embrace the varied forces that shape a building. Unique in its approach to assembling a jury, the AIA Minneapolis Merit Award encompasses the views of business professionals, real estate developers, community advocates, academic leaders, as well as architects.

2021 AIA Minneapolis Merit Award recipients:

Busch Architects, Inc.’s Cedar Riverside Opportunity Center provides critical social and economic support to the Cedar Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis.

Ryan A+E, Inc.’s Downtown East Urban Master Plan, a five-block redevelopment project that is reshaping the Minneapolis urban landscape by bridging the central downtown area to the new U.S. Bank Stadium, the University of Minnesota, the Mill District and the Elliot Park neighborhood.

UrbanWorks Architecture’s Guild Crisis and Recovery Center is the first mental health intensive residential treatment and crisis stabilization services facility in the Southwest Metro, located in Savage.

Perkins&Will’s Mankato Clinical Sciences Building at Minnesota State University is the new collaborative health hub that fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and enables student engagement with state of the art academic and clinical experiences.

Miller Dunwiddie’s Silver Ramp is a mixed-use, multimodal transportation hub located in the heart of the MSP Airport’s Terminal 1 campus.

LEO A DALY’s Second Harvest Heartland Headquarters, Volunteer Center and Distribution Center, a new facility in Brooklyn Park that activates a vacant industrial space and reimagines it as a multi-functional environment with a dynamic mixture of spaces. The Second Harvest Heartland Headquarters, Volunteer Center and Distribution Center received the additional honor of being selected for the 2021 Michael L. Schrock, AIA Merit Award (see description below).

The Michael L. Schrock, AIA, Merit Award was created to honor Mike Schrock, AIA, who tragically passed away in 2008. This is an additional honor awarded within the context and structure of the AIA Minneapolis Merit Awards to the winning project that most embodies Michael’s 7 Rules of Architecture:

  1. Know where you are from.
  2. Know who you are.
  3. Know why you are.
  4. Respect your benefactors.
  5. Honor the environment.
  6. Architecture must serve those who occupy it.
  7. There is beauty in functional, economical, safe, environmentally responsible, owner-driven architecture.

The Merit Award jury included: Anjali Ganapathy, AIA, Dunwoody College of Technology; Rosemary Dolata, AIA, St. Paul Public Schools; Marcia Dreoge, Land O’Lakes; Stephanie Howe, AIA, AIA Minneapolis President-elect and Studio E Architects; and Tom Strohm, United Properties. The jury reviewed how well the entries support the health and well-being of the client or user, address critical social, economic, and or environmental needs of the community, reduce burdens on the environment, address issues of economic development, and utilize innovation.

AIA Minneapolis is the largest chapter in Minnesota with more than 1,600 members. Centered in Minneapolis, the chapter territory includes the southwestern portion of the state. As a large chapter, AIA Minneapolis participates with other large AIA chapters nationwide to focus attention on significant issues facing AIA members. The chapter provides leadership, networking, and outreach opportunities for its members.