The ever-changing, lush wooded surroundings of Minnesota, such as those experienced at this 8,000-square-foot Type Variant House outside of Minneapolis designed by Coen and Partners, are right near the small town of New Richland.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Minneapolis, Minnesota (2006)

The Bachelor Farmer (Minneapolis, MN), designed by James Dayton Design Ltd. and Janet Gridley.

A spacious great hall with white walls, panels that look like cross-sections of tree trunks, gray slate accents, and a brown-and-grayscale color palette carries the theme of modest Scandinavian understatement. An impressive array of seats and tables, somewhere between mid-century and contemporary in appearance, make for comfortable spaces for conversation, meeting, and greeting areas.

There are numerous overt and subtle nods to Minneapolis and Minnesota culture, from a Post-It Note and packing-tape artworks (a tie-in to local company 3M) to paintings of iconographic regional structures by local artists. Even the blue-to-white-to-blue wallpaper on residential levels reflects the lake-and-sky scenery for which the state is famous.

An in-depth lighting study led to significantly rebalancing light levels throughout the common areas. To this end, the design team added window treatments as well as large pendant lamps. Small square skylights frame the ceiling space, working in concert with the other details to brighten the space.

The entryway was radically changed, which helped improve circulation. A hard-to-find service counter was replaced with individual check-in stations made from rough-hewn local granite. The new interior design solutions, shown in the lower image, rendered the need for wayfinding maps and floor plans largely redundant.

Hennepin Avenue and Nicollet Mall—the main thoroughfares for automotive and pedestrian traffic, respectively—stretch between the structure and the river. Along these streets lie many of the major stores, offices, theaters, restaurants, bars and, clubs of the city. Thanks to the limited traffic alongside the hotel itself, returning to it after a meeting or evening is relatively hassle free. The building is also ideally situated along the Loring Park Greenway, and at the end of the extensive downtown network of skyways, which help commuters and visitors stay off the street during hot summers and cool winters. As the local saying goes, “Minnesota has two seasons: winter and road repair”—the location and configuration of the Hyatt addresses this climactic dualism as well.

The dark-windowed, eggshell-white exterior is unassuming. It is one of a number of mid-sized residential buildings bookending downtown Minneapolis to the south. Condo towers and converted warehouse lofts flank the north side, along the Mississippi River. In sum, it is a narrow, simple, twenty-five-story modern wedge stepping up from a lower-profile street façade.

Fans of classic northern European design traditions will recognize the aesthetic influence of mid-century architects in the Hyatt's new design. One such design icon that proved inspirational was Alvar Aalto, the famed Finnish designer who focused on both personable scales and tactile experiences; Aalto frequently used materials like wood and textured stone—both engaging to the touch—on counters and handrails where human contact happens and the Hyatt utilized that same approach.

As the Hyatt’s John Yeadon explains, the need to break up larger and more impersonal elements was a major force driving the renovation. The team traded an uncomfortably open dining area (shown at top) in favor of curtained niches and intimate nooks (below). The new menu features Nordic fare but also Minnesota-based cuisines derived from Scandinavian traditions, among others.

CoCo (Minneapolis, United States) A 20,000 square-foot hub for entrepreneurship and enterprise in downtown Minneapolis, CoCo gives new energy to a potent symbol of the old economy. It's a renovated grain exchange and trading floor, down to the Twitter messages and music playlists flashing across the repurposed trading board. Co-founder Kyle Coolbroth said the then-vacant space’s palladian windows and classic Doric columns spoke to him at first glance, so he and his colleagues purchased it and engineered an environment for collaboration, with interaction zones and a coffee bar situated to encourage serendipitous interaction when workers aren’t focused or hunkered down or meeting in private campsites set up on the open floor. The renovation by MacDonald & Mack Architects won a heritage award from the AIA Minneapolis chapter.

In the newly renovated Hyatt Hotel in Minneapolis, rooms are conservatively appointed with high-quality but unpretentiously detailed furnishings and artwork—homey in an appropriately midwestern way, without feeling kitschy or unsophisticated. The architects cite strong partners—including engaged purchasing agent (The Stout Group) and general contractor (Mike Johnson)—as being vital to identifying materials and manufacturers for everything from the tiles and furnishings to the showers and sinks. See the entire new Hyatt slideshow here.

Minneapolis, Minnesota Quilt No. 1 from Louise Gray, $425. Quilting gets a modern spin in the studio of Alexandra Gray Bennett and Jocelin Johnson, where each future heirloom passes through the hands of as many as 10 local artisans.

Light and bright master bathroom in Minneapolis, MN.

The Walker Art Center opened in 1971 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Children's Theatre Company; Minneapolis, Minnesota (2001)

New construction on an existing foundation in the St. Anthony neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN.

Light and bright living room looking towards the stairs and kitchen. Minneapolis, MN

Light and bright living room looking towards stairs and kitchen. Minneapolis, MN

Light and bright living room looking towards stairs and kitchen. Minneapolis, MN

Ultra Clean Service Corporation 3401 Nevada Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55427 612-601-0709 ultracleanservicecorp.com

Balancing Ground, seen here, is a structure that encourages collaboration with its inviting sense of play: the teeter-tooter triggers audio clips that tend to sneak up on those in the adjacent pavilion.

Friends gather in the courtyard to make the most of Minneapolis's limited temperate times.

Weekend House, Schroeder, MN, 2009.

“The owners wanted to use the site to its fullest potential, preserving and experiencing the existing oak trees to the west, the glimpses of the city skyline, and the relationship to the neighborhood,” Dwyer said. White oak was a particularly integral material in the home’s interior design, and was used throughout.

Avila Web Firm _ 210 N 2nd St #070, Minneapolis, MN 55401 _ 612-254-6231 _ www.avilawebfirm.com

Architect John Dwyer of D/O said that the two owners “wanted a peaceful stillness to the house and site, something that expressed itself in a modest way with a restrained material palette.” The triangular home has an exterior of custom-milled cedar and James Hardie’s HardiePanel, the latter of which was painted black.

Although John and Debby ditched the home’s acoustic ceiling tiles, they kept the living room’s original handmade windows for their vintage quality. The grouping of art above the fireplace is by Minneapolis-based artist Jay Heikes.

As Public Art Saint Paul’s artist-in-residence, Amanda Lovelee helmed a team of collaborators to create Urban Flower Field, which draws attention to ecology in the city’s Pedro Park. Along with Lovelee, the project’s creative team included Adam Kay, Director of Environmental Science, University of St. Thomas; muralists Ed Charbonneau and Jeremy Szopinski; Don Ganje and Bianca Paz of Saint Paul Parks and Recreation; and agroecologist Paula Westmoreland of Ecological Design.

Modernica’s Case Study set furnishes the master bedroom and sits upon Fedora carpet tiles in a charcoal shade by FLOR. Benjamin Moore’s Aura Super White Flat is also used here, brightened by daylight from Pella Impervia Windows.

Front view of the FlatPak House in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When the architect first told his wife about his idea, she said, “It’s about time you focus on a house for me!” He continues, “It’s like the old story about the cobbler whose kids have no shoes.”

Minneapolis–based firm ALTUS Architecture + Design have designed a unique 2,850-square-foot residence in Woodland, Minnesota, by marrying glass-house architecture with a reflective "shiny" shed. The single-story property is primed for tranquility, as it sits on a peaceful woodland plateau and overlooks a lush wetland, as well as a calming lake in the distance.

Joe Limpert, co-founder of Hennepin Made in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Built in 1949, this Lustron house in Minneapolis is one of six such steel prefabs on Nicollet Avenue.

A BluDot hutch and yellow painting by Minneapolis artist Ellen Richman occupy one end of the new "swingroom", which connects the original house to one of the two additions.