1st + 1st Produce/Exchange

The 1st + 1st Produce/Exchange is a renovation of the former Jeune Lune Theater located at 1st St. and 1st Ave. in Minneapolis's historic warehouse district. Originally a produce exchange consisting of two adjacent masonry buildings, Cass Gilbert was hired in 1895 to design an additional concrete frame structure and consolidate the three independent buildings into a single warehouse facility by wrapping them in an imposing facade. In 1992 a portion of the complex was converted into a performing arts space for the now defunct Theatre de la Jeune Lune, leaving an historically rich but exceptionally introverted building without an adequate program for 21st century. My proposal relies on a strategy of vertical incisions to expose this exceedingly anti-public building to daylight, public circulation, and updated mechanical equipment which together will allow it to be resuscitated with a contemporary program appropriate to the current neighborhood revitalization. By combining its most recent performing arts program with its original market function, the new 1st+1st Produce/Exchange brings together the productive, consumptive, educational, and social components of the culinary and performing arts while simultaneously allowing for a greater understanding of the building's intrinsic volumetric, structural, and material characteristics.