Minneapolis' Water Works Competition Shortlists West 8, SCAPE, Gustafson Guthrie Nicol

The Minneapolis Parks Foundation has announced a shortlist of three award-winning design teams for the schematic design project Water Works: A Next Generation Park on Minneapolis’ Central Riverfront. The teams are Gustafson Guthrie Nicol with VJAA and Interboro (Seattle/Minneapolis/New York); SCAPE with Rogers Marvel (New York); and Team West 8 (Rotterdam/New York).

A five-member Designer Selection Committee chose the teams from a pool of 27 responses representing seven U.S. states and five European countries to the April RFP for schematic design for a new urban park on “America’s fourth coast.”

Water Works is a proposed year-round destination park on the Mississippi Riverfront in the heart of Minneapolis, the largest city in Minnesota. Minneapolis was founded and flourished on the shores of the Mississippi at the river’s only true waterfall. Water Works connects with this powerful natural resource, as well as existing city, regional and national parks, is permeated with Native American and industrial history, and forms the intersection of multiple streets and biking and walking paths.

The Minneapolis Parks Foundation is leading Water Works, a RiverFirst Priority Project. The Minneapolis Parks & Recreation Board is a Water Works partner. The Foundation will announce the winning design team on July 9, with design beginning in late summer and continuing through early 2014.

The Designer Selection Committee comprises experts in parks, urban design and city planning: Bruce Chamberlain, Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board; Laura Salveson, Mill City Museum & St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board; Kjersti Monson, City of Minneapolis; Matthew Tucker, Dept. of Landscape Architecture, University of Minnesota; and Mary deLaittre, Minneapolis Parks Foundation. The committee shortlisted teams based on team composition (disciplines represented) and experience, philosophy and approach to design and planning, and proposed design process and fees.

“All 27 submissions were compelling, but Team West 8, Scape and Gustafson stood out for their expertise, as well as design philosophy generally and approach to Water Works specifically,” said Mary deLaittre, Executive Director of the Minneapolis Parks Foundation. “The selection committee determined that these teams understand the site’s dual significance as a focus of civic identity and living history. Each team has the capability to help us visualize, and then realize, Water Works’ tremendous potential.”

Find plans of the Water Works site and scope area in the image gallery below.