Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Rest Stops

Chanhassen, MN

Completed: 2014

The University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum operates electric circulator buses to assist park visitors to navigate the scenic 3-Mile Drive. Planning for these buses included “rest-stops” which would function as way-points where buses load and unload passengers, and where visitors can congregate to rest, wait, and re-hydrate. Firm Ground has assisted the Landscape Arboretum by creating uniquely identifiable, context-sensitive architectural designs for each rest-stop. The rest stop designs address issues of stop location and bus time differentials to reduce traffic, providing electricity and water to these off-grid locations, and maintaining sensitivity to the architectural vernacular of Ed Lundie, designer of many UMN Landscape Arboretum buildings.