Unauthorized Charrette pitches grand visions and sustainable dreams to Mayor of St. Paul...

An after-the-fact report and edit of the original posting:

AIA Saint Paul - Unauthorized Design Charrette

AIA Saint Paul hosted almost 50 architects, students and a stray scientist for an daylong anything goes charrette for the future of the soon-to-be-closed Ford Assembly Plant. The site for all those not in the twin cities, is 140 prime acres on the Mississippi river, complete with a privately owned 18Mw hydropower dam and a grand Albert Kahn factory building.

Teams from a dozen of the more civic minded local firms (ok, this is from memory) Hays Dobb, ESG, Opus, the Weidt Group, BWBR, Architectural Alliance, Walsh Bishop, and a few others (if I missed you - drop me a note), gathered in the UAW local hall to crumple bumwad, get high on marker fumes, and enjoy some the solidarity of group collaboration.

The crowd swelled at 4pm for the public presentation to the mayor. The ideas ranged from the practical transit oriented development scheme, to vertical farms in a zero emissions development. Most groups opted for keeping part of the Kahn building, but axed the state-of-the-art painting plant. Green roofs, phyto-remediation, biomass, walkable centers, and high density were common themes.

We'll see what happens next and what really gets proposed for the latest post-industrial relic to grace the upper midwest. Stay tuned for more...



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