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    The thoughtfully considered

    AIA Minnesota recognizes outstanding built projects for 2023   For nearly 70 years, AIA Minnesota has recognized its members and member-owned firms for their architecture and urban design work through its AIA Minnesota Honor Awards and Commendations for Design Excellence. Over the decades, the program has challenged architects to envision what is possible, recognizing that design can be a vehicle…

  • Featured,  Relish

    A culinary tradition

    Today, many Americans have easy access to pre-prepared food—whether it be slabs of meat packaged at the grocery store or a ready-to-eat meal from a fast-food chain, acquired from just five minutes spent in a drive-through line—and the life cycle of each plant or animal behind the meal is often not thoroughly considered. With an outlook inspired from more than…

  • Design Spotlight,  Featured,  Print Edition

    Trina Sandschafer, AIA, LEED AP

    Vice President; Design Principal; Team Leader Corporate, Hospitality, Residential Kahler Slater Inc. | Chicago, Illinois   Scale, proportion, light: For Trina Sandschafer, AIA, LEED AP, vice president, design principal, and team leader of corporate, hospitality, and residential at Kahler Slater in Chicago, Illinois, they are often the defining elements of her architectural philosophy and client-based design approach. It is in…

  • Creative Endeavors,  Featured

    Sustainability Deep Dive

    As a shepherd of product ideas and designs for the human environment, the industrial design industry has a huge impact on the climate crisis and outstretched waste statistics around the world. To unpack this reality and connect through solutions, the Industrial Designers Society of America, or IDSA, kicked off its inaugural Sustainability Deep Dive conference last year, which tackled the…

  • Creative Endeavors,  Featured,  Form

    Empathy in industry

    A reusable epinephrine auto-injector; a minimalist household composter; an eco-friendly and contemporary ceramic and glass toaster: there’s no lack of innovation within University of Cincinnati alum Mary Friedl’s expanding portfolio. The industrial designer graduated from the university’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning last May 2020 and promptly won a competition for designing an eco-friendly toaster as a part…

  • Creative Endeavors,  Featured

    Contribution in landscape

    Since its founding in 1899, the American Society of Landscape Architects has been in place to advance landscape architecture in areas like sustainability, education, and advocacy. Each year, the society inducts several fellows to further this mission, as awardees are chosen based on their exceptional contributions to landscape architecture.  This year, Brenda Williams, PLA, ASLA, NOMA, principal and director of…

  • Featured,  Travel

    Sculpted experience

    Museums tucked within nature, sculpture gardens offer unique experiences for those with a love of the outdoors and for the discerning art and design enthusiast that are increasingly appealing in a currently deepening digital reality. The Midwest is home to a variety of sculpture gardens of varying sizes, whether independently owned and operated, or a result of rich, decades-long collaboration…

  • Creative Endeavors,  Featured,  Relish

    Kitchen Design Contest

    Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, Sub-Zero Group, Inc. has been considered an industry leader in culinary appliances, as its subsidiary brands, Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove, merge technological innovation and sleek aesthetics to outfit residential and commercial kitchens globally. With the trio’s collections of premium refrigeration, cooking, and dishwashing solutions there is an even larger amount of possibilities when it comes to…

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    Freshwater hub

    Milwaukee, Wisconsin is changing the narrative on the post-industrial urban landscape. Not unlike many of its like coastal communities—hubs of economic prosperity carved into the shoreline of the world’s largest freshwater system—Milwaukee’s industrial past took advantage of its port and waterways to fuel its growth and development during the 19th and 20th centuries. Yet now, the city is re-emerging as…