Must-Stop Architecture: Four Minnesota Safety Rest Areas
Design for rest and rejuvenation in a new class of rest stops across the state
By Chris Hudson and Thomas Fisher, Assoc. AIA | March 23, 2023
A walking path and play area at Des Moines River Safety Rest Area near Jackson. Photo by Eric Mueller Photography.
FEATURE
“Highway rest stops rarely win design awards, but that has begun to change in Minnesota,” wrote Thomas Fisher, Assoc. AIA, in Architecture MN in early 2018, in a feature on the AIA Minnesota Honor Award–winning Straight River Safety Rest Area on I-35 south of Owatonna. Fisher, the director of the Minnesota Design Center, had an inkling there were more highway gems to come. Two years later, he profiled the Goose Creek Safety Rest Area on I-35 in Harris, which also received an AIA Minnesota Honor Award.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s renewed focus on quality design for travelers didn’t stop there. In 2021, it opened two notable new facilities on I-90 near Jackson: the Clear Lake and Des Moines River Safety Rest Areas. “Our rest areas may be the only places a traveler through Minnesota ever visits, and they need to represent us well,” MnDOT project manager David Schilling, AIA, told Fisher.
With spring and summer road trips just around the corner, ENTER highlights these must-stop buildings and landscapes in four galleries.
Photos 1–8: Safety measures in the two Jackson rest areas include clear views into and out of the buildings and well-designed nighttime site lighting. Alliiance brought their approach to the award-winning MSP International Airport restrooms to these 3,600-square-foot facilities. The restroom entries feature murals by Minnesota-born nature photographer Jim Brandenburg. Photos 1–7 by Eric Mueller Photography. Photo 8 by Aerial Imagery Media.
Clear Lake Safety Rest Area (Eastbound)
Location: Near Jackson, Minnesota
Architect: Alliiance
Landscape architect: AFLA
Travelers who need to stretch their legs and refresh their minds will want to spend extra time doing so at Clear Lake. The building and landscape plan encourage sensory engagement with the prairie through local materials, indoor and outdoor vistas with interpretive signage, nature-themed artwork, and inviting play areas and walking trails. Even the roadway approach prepares motorists for a prairie experience, when the building’s sloped green roof comes into view. “It’s absolutely beautiful starting in early June when all those green-roof succulents start blooming yellow,” says Alliiance principal Amber Sausen, AIA. “The next wave blooms pale pink, and then in fall the roof is ablaze in yellows, oranges, and reds.”
Photos 1–9: The hilltop Des Moines River building can be seen from a distance on I-90. Alliiance designed both Jackson stops with windbreaks. “The wind is incredible,” says Alliiance architect Amber Sausen. “Every time we drove out for site visits, we wondered, ‘Which direction is the wind coming from today? Is it going to knock us over, and will it be gentle?’” Photo 1 by Aerial Imagery Media. Photos 2–9 by Eric Mueller Photography.
Des Moines River Safety Rest Area (Westbound)
Location: Near Jackson, Minnesota
Architect: Alliiance
Landscape architect: AFLA
Sited a few miles east of its Clear Lake sibling on a hilltop, the Des Moines River stop features the same material palette, art-enriched restrooms, bird-safe glazing, and sloping green roof. But where the Clear Lake stop embodies the straight lines of its surrounding agricultural fields, Des Moines River embraces the curvilinearity of its namesake in profile and plan. “At Des Moines River, we were thinking about the meanders of the river and the rolling topography and how we could start to follow those curves in the design,” says Sausen. Along the back of the building, an arcing limestone wall hugs a restored prairie knoll. In front, the inwardly curving lobby and roofline help frame a sunken play area.
Photos 1–6: For the restroom lobby, local artisans fabricated a raised topographical map of Goose Creek. The facility is big on transparency, making it safe for travelers both in the building and on the elevated walkway that curves around the back of the building. Curving paths continue out around the park-like grounds. Photos 1–3 by Peter J. Sieger. Photos 4–6 by VJAA, Inc. (Nate Steuerwald, AIA).
Goose Creek Safety Rest Area (Northbound)
Location: Harris, Minnesota
Architect: VJAA
Landscape architect: Damon Farber
“The clarity and simplicity of the plan . . . is balanced by carefully considered details and a thoughtful use of materials, providing plenty for visitors to contemplate,” wrote Fisher in a 2020 Architecture MN feature. “Take the exterior envelope. Composed of alternating squares and rectangles of dimensional lumber, the vertical wood slats wrapping the outside walls provide a low-cost, long-life, low-maintenance surface that recalls the upright wood siding of barns and the circular forms of wood silos that once dotted the rural landscape.”
Photos 1–9: Straight River’s metal portal reflects the shape and material of the semi-trailers parked nearby. The front plaza encourages relaxation while the back balcony opens out to nature. The simple floor plan has restrooms and a mechanical space flanking a central, glass-walled lobby. Photos by Gaffer Photography.
Straight River Safety Rest Area (Northbound)
Location: Near Owatonna, Minnesota
Architect: Snow Kreilich Architects
Landscape architect: Coen+Partners
“The one-story, flat-roofed structure keeps a low profile, and its dark-masonry walls let it merge into the shadows of the mature trees that surround it. Only the entrance portal, with its angled, stainless-steel cladding, stands out visually,” wrote Fisher in the 2018 Architecture MN profile. “The entry plaza’s columnar lights, concrete benches, and deciduous trees, lined up in rows, encourage weary travelers to sit, while two black-painted, steel-framed picnic pavilions, as well as an intriguing Möbius-shaped play structure, also invite people to stay.”
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