The Esox House of Snow Kreichen delivers joint lessons to an industrial section of St. Paul

On the west side of St. Paul on a former industrial area directly behind the Mississippi, the first pieces of an ambitious renovation plan came online. The approximately 7-hectare mixed community of Farwell-on-Wasser was designed in 2019 by developer Peter Deanovic by Buhl Investors as a means of activating a resting area in the city's water front. It includes artist studios and flexible work area in the historic warehouse in Farwell Ozmun Kirk & Co. as well as a separate building with 63 units of affordable apartments. However, the central component is ESOX House, a five -story apartment complex with 221 market -frequency rents and finally retail areas that serve as a pivot point, around which current and future activities are based.

The 248,000 square meter building opened in June 2024 was designed by Snow Kreich Architects based in Minneapolis and converted a fixed property that was once dominated by a vacant paint factory a decade ago. When the design team toured on the premises for the first time in 2020, it was trapped by a chain-link fence and scattered with old car parts. “It had a very junkyard-Y feeling,” says Mary Springer, Associate Principal Snow Kreich. “The paint building was intact, but it was a bit difficult to understand what we wanted to get as soon as we were excavated.” The design director Matthew Kreilich adds that “it was a small building, and there was no great way to reuse it in any great capacity. We knew from the start that this would be new building.”

The factory sank and the conversion of industrial buildings into residential buildings required a remedy and encryption to remedy soil pollution, the installation of a new sewage system to cope with demand, and an underground water liability and treatment system to prevent the toxins from being released into the Mississippi. What was going on is a reserved structure that is oriented like a blockical letter “C”. The neutral-tinted Esox-Haus was built using concrete, brick and strike corrugated iron metal, with a design being partially inspired by the sandstone cliffs that make the geology of St. Paul. Street actary units have put terraces into the envelope, while those on the opposite side are rusted, as if mature from the building.

This tactful collision of residential and industry extends in the 11,000 square meter courtyard, where Snow Cirishly worked with frequent employees, the local landscape architecture and the urban design company ten. Among the many amenities of the 21st century (including Boccia dishes, an independent sauna and a written off yurt), the space preserved contains elements from the paint factory, such as its four chimney stacks and sections of perimeter walls. The architects also maintained two huge cotton wood trees that were on the site.

Some of the artists who worked from the historic Farwell warehouse have contributed decorative and functional pieces to the new building, including individual furniture. These items are distributed in various amenities that should attract young experts such as playing rooms with flipper, table tene and shuffleboard. the vinyl room with a curated collection of records; And a “retreat” on the fourth floor with a kitchen, a barinsel and an outdoor terrace with a fireplace. When confirming the changes made by the pandemic, there are also generous coworking room on the first floor with open seating in the style of open, stand and café style.

In the Esox House there is only a community spirit with well -occupied meetings only local residents such as art workshops and culinary events. But for Snow Käilich and the developer, the project was always about triggering the community among the other Farwell elements in order to “support the narrative of the transition of this area,” says Senior Associate Nick Reiter. Nowhere is it more obvious than the common courtyard Hof, which begins in the Esox House and serves as a lawn of the new community. The developer has programmed this common outdoor area, which was also designed by Ten X Ten, for concerts and other events, which “intends that everyone uses the courtyard as part of their public domain,” says Springer.

“There is a much greater urban thinking, the Pete [Deanovic] Has for this area, “says Kreilich.