The Lakewood Garden Mausoleum in Minneapolis, Minnesota has to be one of the finest designed buildings in the country introduced this year. From an artistic perspective, I find that it’s architectural elements create a wonderful balance between form and function. It’s become one of my favorite buildings in the Twin Cities since it’s opening in May 2012.
This past Sunday the Minneapolis Star Tribune announced the architect of this building (Joan Soranno) as Artist of the Year. It’s a great recognition for this fine piece of architecture. There’s also a great story about Ms. Soranno on the StarTribune web site titled “Artist of the year: Joan Soranno for design of Lakewood mausoleum“.
I pleasantly stumbled across this building on Memorial Day Weekend 2012 and published a post with interior photographs on June 2nd (see Photo Shoot – Lakewood Garden Mausoleum). Since then I’ve been back a few more times to capture photographs of the exterior.
Most of this building is built into the side of a hill. This is the front entry on top of the hill which leads down into the main structure.
There is a ton of natural light inside this building thanks to the large windows like the ones shown above. Below ground there is a wall of windows that brings in light, as well as beautifully designed skylights that bring in from above. I love the skylights because they cast large beams of light from above on a sunny day, and provide a spiritual window to the heaven’s above. A wonderful touch.
If you are in Minneapolis and have some time, I would strongly encourage one and all to take a tour of this building. It’s won numerous national accolades and awards and is definitely worth a visit.