Water Works Riverfront Park
Minneapolis, MN
Work in collaboration with Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and Minneapolis Parks Foundation
2021 USA Today 10 Best New Attractions
2021 ASLA-MN Award of Excellence
See link for Plants of Owámniyomni: A Dakota Language Audio Tour
Services
Project start-up, program and design vision
Client, project, and construction management
Stakeholder and community engagement
Implementation strategy
Partner and vendor agreements
Project Features
All season public pavilion integrated into historic mill ruins. Pavilion is home to Owámni Restaurant (James Beard award winner) and meets the MN State B3 Guidelines for sustainability.
Outdoor plazas and gathering areas
Multipurpose lawn over a rainwater reuse cistern
Social seating and outdoor performance terraces
Nature play and garden area
Medicinal and edible native plan palette
Accessible circulation routes linking downtown to the riverfront
Bruce led the project from its inception through conceptual design while with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board then curated the project in his role as Minneapolis Parks Fellow for the Minneapolis Parks Foundation. Kate led community engagement and project managed detailed design through construction while with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.
Water Works is a $23 million riverfront park project at the Mississippi River’s Owámniyomni or St. Anthony Falls. The site is held sacred by the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples, is at the center of a national historic district and is the genesis of Minneapolis’ growth as the “grain milling capital of the world”. The Water Works landscape has thirty feet of grade change and is chock full of mill walls, subterranean water power canals, and railroad remnants. Because of the site’s complexities, which translate to extraordinary development cost, these few acres have sat untouched for thirty years at the periphery of an iconic regional park that receives nearly three million annual visits.
Bruce Chamberlain and Kate Lamers led the Water Works project from its 2011 inception to its 2021 grand opening. Bruce led preliminary design. Kate was the project manager from schematic design through commissioning, managing a highly complex design, budgeting and construction effort. They advised the Minneapolis Parks Foundation’s fulfillment of an $18 million philanthropic campaign in partnership with the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board. Early in the design process, the team established a partnership with the globally acclaimed duo Dana Thompson and Sean Sherman who are current operating the Owámni restaurant featuring Indigenous cuisine and a deep commitment to revitalizing Indigenous food systems. They fulfilled a strategy for a public/private rainwater capture and reuse system. They prepared a capital investment strategy and operating model.
Their collaborative leadership and thoughtful engagement has resulted in visionary design, realization of the philanthropic campaign, an innovative micro-enterprise operating model, and a unique public/private approach to public realm development.
