Private Residence, Minneapolis

Rooftop garden at sunset.

Project Details

• Project Name: Private Residence and Rooftop Renovation
• Project Type: Residential
• Principal Designer/s: Tom Oslund
• Design Team: oslund.and.assoc.
• Contractor/s: Gunderson Construction
• Date of completion of project: 2003
• Location of site: Minneapolis, MN
• Site Area: 5000 sq. ft.
  

A view of the meditation pavilion and Cor-ten steel planters with native grasses.

As described by the designers

The space is located on the 10th floor penthouse level of a loft conversion of an abandoned warehouse, which is a national historic landmark. The space balances living and man-made materials within a precinct bounded by walls on three sides. On the 4th side is an expansive view of the Mississippi River and a postcard view of Downtown Minneapolis. The owner's expansive art collection and love of minimalism inspired the landscape architect's approach.

View of rooftop prior to construction.

The primary design features of the space are a rooftop lawn and badminton court, a Corten steel water wall and a meditation pavilion. The garden terrace synthesizes the architecture and the landscape within a shared modernist vocabulary.

The lawn panel has an illuminated reveal at its base, creating the appearance of a floating plane during the evening hours.

The loft architecture and landscape sustain a symbiotic relationship where each is enriched by the other, managing light and form outside of the traditional garden-residence paradigm.

A contrast of light and dark materials composed of rectilinear patterns simply shape space and define rooms on the rooftop.

The synthesis of the architecture and the landscape creates a quiet space of respite up and away from the city streets. The modernist vocabulary provides a refreshing contrast to the notable riverfront structure, allowing the historic fabric of the city to be reinterpreted and refreshed for the 21st Century.

The kitchen terrace as seen from the raised lawn. A hanging Corten steel wall incorporates an oversized Ikebana shelf holding a small Japanese maple tree.

This space is designed to frame the natural and man-made beauty that surrounds it. The roof plane is covered in a deep grey Dresser Trap rock, providing the canvas on which the three-dimensional forms of planters, meditation pavilions and the lawn are incorporated.

Looking at the meditation pavilion from within the grid of Corten steel planters.

These modular forms frame the outdoor space - the planters frame the meditation pavilion and the walkway, the terrace frames the lawn, the plantings help to frame the approaches to the lawn space; they also offer an opportunity for fresh flowers and herbs to be plucked without fuss.

Close up of illuminated Geesaman at night.

Ecological design parameters are also taken care of. Rainwater is collected and stored for the irrigation of plantings and the lawn. The lawn itself has an augmented cistern - designed by the landscape architect - built into its subterranean framework, allowing it to be not only self-watering, but also not allowing any runoff to escape from the lawn surface.

Lawn panel, planters, and Geesaman art pieces seen at twilight.

Credits

• Text by David Motzenbecker
• Photographs by George Heinrich
• Compiled by Suprio Bhattacharjee