Client: Hennepin County

Location: Minneapolis, MN

Services Provided: Surveying, Multimedia Design, 3D Animation, Video Production, Informational Sheets, PowerPoint Graphics, Photo Production and Editing

The Minneapolis Transportation Interchange is perhaps the most important Twin Cities' transportation project in the last 10 years. The Interchange will unite regional transit and development, creating a civic space that connects multiple transportation options and increases mobility. Our role on this project began when Hennepin County selected our firm to provide topographic survey services for over 60 acres of urban area in downtown Minneapolis adjacent to and including the Target Field property. Stonebrooke staff obtained existing plat and available electronic data to prepare a comprehensive electronic model of the existing area.

Project Location. Click to view larger image.

During the initial phases of the public and agency involvement process, it became clear that the scope of this project could not be properly shown through flat 2D graphics. Hennepin County asked our staff to create an animated DVD video that would show a realistic depiction of the completed Interchange project based on the current conceptual designs. The data gathered by our staff during the surveying phase was utilized to create a 3D CAD model of the project location and surrounding neighborhood. Our graphics staff imported the 3D model into 3D Studio Max Design, a popular 3D modeling and animation software package. The proposed transportation hub was modeled, as well as all surrounding buildings, including Target Field.

The final product is a series of "fly-through" videos that showcase all of the features of this new transportation hub. These high resolution videos were formatted onto a comprehensive DVD and are currently being used to solicit feedback from municipal agencies, utility companies, railroad companies, elected officials, local business owners, and neighborhood groups. This DVD has also been formatted as a streaming video for use on the project web site and popular video-based web sites such as YouTube and Vimeo in later phases of the public involvement process.

Stonebrooke staff created graphics for the PowerPoint presentations that were used in agency and stakeholder meetings. Special 3D views were created for these presentations that highlighted how the project would look when viewed from neighboring properties, including views from different floors in the adjacent Ford Building.

Stonebrooke was also asked to create a "photo essay" of the entire project corridor. Our graphics staff took over 300 photos along 5th Street N, 6th Avenue N, 7th Street N, and Royalston Avenue N. We used the Adobe Creative Suite to seamlessly tie these photos together into extended panoramic views of the proposed project area. These images were scaled to correspond to the roadway alignment for each of these streets, and plotted on two 30' long plan sheets. Additional information was added to the road profile below these photos by our engineering staff to indicate possible locations for light rail stations and platforms, roadway crossings, and existing structures. These sheets were used in an interactive display at two key public involvement meetings. Stakeholders and concerned citizens were able to place their concerns on post-it notes anywhere on these sheets, and these comments are being considered in the preliminary layouts for this project. This hands-on approach lead to a greater understanding of the needs of the local community, including mobility, accessibility, identity, and aesthetics.

Photo Essay Sample. Click to view larger PDF.