O2 Design
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Established, 1998
Timeline
IMAGE ALBUMS
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135W Bridge Reconstruction ALBUM
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Stone-filled gabions face embankment walls on both sides of the River, reflecting the site’s industrial past.
The steep banks of the floodplain proved to be a design challenge to this goal, but also an opportunity to traverse the dramatic topography of the Mississippi River Floodplain below St. Anthony Falls.
The greenscape planted with Englemann Ivy, adds green to the landscape, while also cooling these surfaces and reducing their contribution to the urban heat island effect in the summer.
Approaches to the bridges were also reconstructed along with various local streets adjacent to the project, and observation decks under the bridge along the banks of the Mississippi River.
Early designs featured a narrow platform that cantilevered from the South Bank, between the bridge piers over the river. This design was later converted to a second plaza that mirrors the North Bank, closer to the water.
Full-scale mock-ups helped designers and the Visual Quality team to select the locally quarried stone and gabion baskets that best complimented nearby limestone outcrops and architecture.
The early focus of the project was to draw people to the water’s edge – a new public space on the Mississippi River.
235 W Remembrance Garden ALBUM
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Upon entering the garden the visitor encounters a set of solid stone steps that rise out of grade and have carved into the face of the top riser an inscription.
The use of stone on the Survivors’ Wall and throughout the garden symbolizes stability and cohesion, representing the community that pulled together to support the families of those lost and those who survived.
The I-35W bridge collapse memorial is known as the Remembrance Garden.
The Remembrance Garden was completed in July of 2011 and dedicated on August 1st, 2011 on the 4-year anniversary of the bridge collapse.
The 8 lane bridge, one of the busiest bridges that span the Mississippi River which snakes through the heart of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, suffered a catastrophic failure.
The steel and opaque glass columns remain lit a calming blue at all times, a blue that mirrors the light of the new 35W Bridge which is visible from the overlook platform.
Behind the columns at the back edge of the terrace is an 8’ high and 31’ long black polished granite water wall called the Survivors’ Wall.
The message of the memorial is one of quiet contemplation, tied directly and distinctly to the context within which the tragedy occurred.
The Remembrance Garden is composed of four unifying and symbolic elements: A linear granite plaza, an overlook platform, the Survivor’s Wall, and thirteen iconic light columns.
The 35W Remembrance Garden site was located within close proximity to Gold Medal Park where so many community members gathered to draw on their communal strength and support in the aftermath of the collapse.
The personalized engravings upon each glass column not only reveals the name of the victim but a personal message written by their family, some in their native languages
The repetition and cohesion of these simple vertical forms expresses a unity of shared experience.
West River Parkway
These 10’ steel I-beam and glass columns represent each of the victims whose lives were lost and are materially referential to the original bridge construction.
The spacing of the columns requires the visitor to intimately interact with the forms individually and to achieve proximity and pause before finding understanding.
These stories are engraved at eye-level to the visitor and vary from factual narratives, to poems, to descriptions that chillingly illuminate the random happenstance of finding oneself in some place at a fateful moment.
The inspiration for the Remembrance Garden was derived from the designer’s interactions with the families and survivors after the tragedy with the intent to offer a place for remembrance, commemoration and healing.
This sense of stability and cohesion in the face of the tragedy is a critical element in the Remembrance Garden.
3Allianz ALBUM
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Wlakways
Arbor
Arbor and Fountain
Entrance drop-off
Entry area
Inner Courtyard
Ornamental grasses
Conference garden
Putting green
Master-plan
Fire pit and arbor
Granite fountain
Lawn and conference garden
4General Mills Corporate Headquarters Campus ALBUM
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Plan
Places for employee respite and interaction, as well as large gatherings were a strong desire of the client.
OAA crafted a landscape that met the programmatic needs for gallery and office.
The manicured turf ground plane of the upper courtyard is edged with planting beds that have been created to save existing trees and as locations for site sculpture.
The lower bluestone terrace acts as an outdoor dining place for employees, as well as a gathering space for larger events.
. In the process of construction, many pieces of sculpture needed to be relocated.
This new picturesque landscape is a pleasure to view from the executive offices, the pedestrian link, or the dining terrace.
In the center of the courtyard, a linear band of Siberian irises, broken by bands of Bluestone, marches towards the edge of the space.
The tree-lined water feeds into a large pond, where its trajectory is reinforced with underwater fountains creating a strong linear band of bubbles moving into the pond.
In response, two courtyards on two different levels were designed to act as reflections of each other and address the programmatic needs of the site.
OAA highlighted existing natural beauty and creating contemporary spaces that complimented the art that was on display.
The design created a crisp, clean and organic canvas for the relocated art that was a natural extension of the existing outdoor gallery.
The building is a statement of 1950s modernism juxtaposed against a pastoral landscape.
The lower courtyard is a mirror image of the upper courtyard.
Oslund.and.assoc.’s desire was to create the illusion that the new buildings were floating within the landscape, touching a motionless plane of water.
5Gold Medal Park ALBUM
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The experience was created by interpreting the river landscape in a contemporary manner.
The aerial view of the site with interventions by OAA
The focal point of the park is a sculptural observation mound – 32 feet in height – with a Cor-ten steel lined spiral walkway.
The unique aspect of the observation mound is that it is also the solution for the on-site environmental remediation that had to occur during construction.
Sketch of the plan
The site under construction
In the short time since its grand opening on May 16, 2007, the park has become a well-loved and well-used public open space for Minneapolitans.
The design intention was to create an unprogrammed recreational space that would allow for myriad uses.
Contamination from the various past uses needed remediation.
Architectural model
Paths curving through the park abstract the dendritic pathways formed by water as it flows across a flat landscape toward the river channel.
Master-plan
The aerial view of the site before interventions
The entire oeuvre of site furnishings – benches, pedestrian lighting, utility screening, and trash receptacles - were custom-designed by oslund.and.assoc. for this project.
Thinking about this park as not only a contribution to the city’s green space legacy, but also to its focus on sustainability.
The park includes close to 300 mature trees, all hand-selected, and between 6”-10” in diameter.
Twenty sustainably-harvested Ipe wood benches line the edges of the park and the top of the observation mound.
Individual straight pathways of varying lengths lead to individual custom-designed benches, juxtaposing an abstraction of the city grid onto green open space.
The design strategy of the plan
Sketch of the section
5 of 12 results
SITES
12 ResultsShow less
1
Hamline Blue Garden
O2 Design
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Landscape Project
2
Peavey Plaza
O2 Design
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Landscape Project
3
General Mills Corporate Headquarters Campus
O2 Design, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Landscape Project
4
Allianz
O2 Design
Golden Valley, Minnesota
Landscape Project
5
Target Plaza at Target Field
O2 Design, Populous (orig. HOK Sport)
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Landscape Project
+3
6
35 W Remembrance Garden
O2 Design
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Landscape Project
+2
7
35W Bridge Reconstruction
O2 Design
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Recreation
8
Gold Medal Park
O2 Design
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Landscape Project
+1
9
Medtronic Patent Garden
O2 Design
Fridley, Minnesota
Landscape Project
10
Harley Davidson Museum
Biber Architects, O2 Design, Pentagram Studio
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Museum
11
UM Duluth Swenson Laboratory Science Building
Ross Barney Architects Inc, O2 Design, Stanius Johnson Architects (SJA)
Duluth, Minnesota
Education
12
UM Duluth Swenson Civil Engineering Building
Ross Barney Architects Inc, Stanius Johnson Architects (SJA) , O2 Design
Duluth, Minnesota
Education
PLAYLISTS CURATED by O2 Design
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