LA DALLMAN Architects was recently named as one of five winners of the 68th Annual Progressive Architecture Awards by Architect Magazine for 2021. Their proposal for the transformation of the Teweles and Brandeis Grain Elevator in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin was selected from a total of 125 commissioned, yet unbuilt, entries that best exemplified recent trends in "community engagement, environmental stewardship, and equitable access to services''. With this in consideration, the jury of Koray Duman of Büro Koray Duman, Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang, and Daimian Hines of Hines Architecture + Design through a blind review found LA DALLMAN’s entry to be a great embodiment of community design.

Originally built in 1901 the Teweles and Brandeis Grain Elevator was once a marker at one end of the great agricultural economy that transformed the midwestern territories into America’s breadbasket. It is primarily from this farming and the subsequent trade of goods that the community of Sturgeon Bay emerged on the shores of Door County, Wisconsin. However, as the town began to disperse to other industries the Grain Elevator eventually fell into disuse and disrepair by 1960. Eventually facing demolition, the Sturgeon Bay Historical Society Foundation organized, with the support of an anonymous donor, for the structure to be redeveloped and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

The lead architects Grace La and James Dallman, of LA DALLMAN, worked closely with the Historical Society, local engineers and the State Historic Preservation Office to form the restoration team for this project. Through this redesign, the structure seeks to transform the Grain Elevator back into a building that can serve as a communal hub for Sturgeon Bay while honoring the agricultural heritage of the town. Exploring the spatial bounds of the utilitarian timber-framework the interior is divided into three levels. The first floor serves as a large open venue space that can be used by the community to come together for weddings, local theatre productions, and family yoga classes. While the second and third floors are a series of smaller spaces that can contain exhibition and art spaces recounting the town’s history. The headhouse atop the Grain Elevator has also been reclad in glass to allow for the interior to open up to views of the surrounding town while serving as a new light for it.

Reflecting on the design juror Daimian Hines noted that, “This project shows how the structures that dot the landscape and are inherently recognized by us as a certain typology could be transformed for reuse, recognition, and a sense of place.” When complete the structure will be renamed the Door County Granary in honor of the locality. As the last surviving structure of Sturgeon Bay’s agricultural legacy, this redesign by LA DALLMAN will revitalize the landscape of the local community, allowing them to reach back into their collective past while moving towards a brighter future.