Cedar Lake Pavilion

U+B collaborated with Damon Farber Landscape Architects and Pierce Pini to design a terraced lakeside park and restroom building on the south side of Cedar Lake in Minneapolis. The existing beach area was well-used but lacked structure and a much-needed buffer between the well-travelled neighborhood streets and trails and the sandy beach.

The new Cedar Lake building includes a toilet, drinking fountains, foot washing and a service space to replace portable toilets.  The Park design includes ramps and steps that create a more accessible path to the beach while preserving mature trees and water quality by filtering any runoff before it reaches the lake.  At the intersection of multi-modal pathways, the project upgraded a 2-lane bikeway and walking trail to minimize circulation conflicts while rerouting utilities below trails & roadways. Community engagement integrated feedback from a number of stakeholders including City officials, Park and Rec Board, nearby residents, regional trail users, and the Watershed District.

Our solution for the building was to wrap this utilitarian structure with a naturally weathering steel screen which gives the building an abstracted sculptural quality and frames a view to the lake at its entry. Through the creative use of materials and intensive community engagement, we worked as a team to create a truly harmonious relationship between the building and the unique site at Cedar Lake.