Minneapolis Convention Center is focusing on green efforts.
While the majority of building renovations have to contend with time constraints, there is no rush for this convention center’s refresh.
When the process of updating the Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC) began in 2008, the focus was on modernizing the 1980s-era building.
Six years later, the city has pledged an additional $14.5 million over the next two years to enhance the public areas of the 1.6-million-square-foot venue, with the goal of enhancing the visitors’ experience and increasing sustainability.
“It’s always important and smart from a competitive standpoint to keep investing in a building such as this,” said Jeff Johnson, the MCC’s executive director.
Both the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Betsy Hodges approved financing for the city-owned and operated facility’s update, with money being allocated from the city’s budget to cover costs.
San Francisco-based architectural firm Gensler has been working on the MCC’s renovations for the last six years.
“We are looking at the initiatives with a long-term lens, transforming the facility over a period of years rather than months due to the cost of the updates and building size,” said Bill Lyons, Gensler’s managing director and principal of the MCC project. “The venue will remain fully operational during this time period.”
The convention center is the largest in the upper Midwest and brings in more than 1.5 million visitors annually, including 250,000 during the summer months. It includes approximately 480,000 square feet of trade show space, 87 meeting rooms, a 28,000-square-foot ballroom and an auditorium.
LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY
As part of its no-waste initiative, the convention center’s 32 restrooms were gutted to include LED lighting that reduced energy consumption by more than 8 percent and low-flow fixtures that lowered water usage by 50 percent.
“The sustainability aspects of this project are unique,” Johnson said. “The goal by 2015 is to achieve a 75 percent recycling rate, decrease water usage by 50 percent and reduce energy usage by 10 percent.”
To help achieve this goal, Gensler developed a new waste container program including custom recycle bins that work with the convention center’s new aesthetics.
The irrigation system also will be upgraded to utilize less water and the 25-year-old HVAC system will be replaced for additional energy efficiency.
As part of the upgrade and visitor experience initiative, six new energy-efficient escalators for the lobbies of Halls C, D and E will be added. Four Skyway escalators on either end of the MCC were completed earlier this year.
Although 2,613 solar panels were installed on the MCC’s roof in 2010 and produce 5 percent of the building’s electricity annually, the convention center also will be adding LED lighting throughout the buildling.
“This is a big building that will be here a long time and many resources are required to run it,” Johnson said. “We want to operate it as responsibly as possible. It’s smart business for public assembly facilities to operate efficiently.”
INCREASING CONNECTION
When Gensler began working with the MCC back in 2008, the focus was on strategically repositioning the facility to compete on a national level.
It was determined that more public spaces were necessary to provide visitors with additional networking opportunities.
This began with the design of a new two-level visitor information center or VIC, by the convention center’s main entrance, which will be completed by early September. Here, visitors will be greeted by an MCC representative. This area also includes a custom, curved LED scrolling board that displays event information as well as weather details, travel information and things to do in the city.
“It’s really important to provide great spaces for people to connect,” Johnson said.
Another change to the aesthetic will be color-changing LED lights within the exhibit hall’s 85-foot-high interior domes. These are designed to provide unique lighting, but also can offer branding opportunities to sponsors and companies.
“Sponsorships are huge moneymakers for convention centers, and the MCC was being inundated with requests for logo placement within the building,” Lyons said.
To keep the integrity of the new design intact, Gensler and the MCC developed guidelines for five different sponsorship levels.
In addition, the convention center has partnered with the Culture and Creative Economy Program of the City of Minneapolis and Northern Lights.mn and Meet Minneapolis for the city’s second Creative City Challenge art contest. Minnesota-based architects, landscape architects, urban designers, planners, engineers, scientists, artists, students and individuals will compete to create and install temporary destination artwork in the MCC’s 87,000-square-foot plaza. This will not only act as a sociable and participatory platform for summer-long onsite programing, but also is designed to reflect the city and its offerings. A professional jury will select three finalists, with the public voting to select a winner.
Interviewed for this story: Jeff Johnson, (612) 767-8038; Bill Lyons, (202) 263-5433