![Karen Lee Rosar near the Great Lawn at the next to the new Target Field Station Wednesday afternoon, with a live Twins game being broadcast from Toronto on the big screen. ] JEFF WHEELER • jeff.wheeler@startribune.com The resurgent western edge of downtown Minneapolis takes a star turn next month with a spotlight shining on Target Field and its neighbors. Major League Baseball's All-Star Game rolls into town for a few days of action and a smaller-scale preview of what's happen](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/BKIBUJY2AOXOA6DAOYK3UHLSRI.jpg?&w=1080)
The designers of Target Field Station won the nation's most prestigious architecture award for its work on the popular Minneapolis transit stop.
Target Field Station is one of 23 recipients of the 2015 Institute Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design, The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced Friday.
New York-based Perkins Eastman was the architectural firm that developed the light-rail station for Hennepin County. Several Twin Cities companies partnered in supporting roles on the project, including SEH, Parsons Electric, Michaud Cooley Erickson, Palanisami & Associates, Knutson Construction, TKDA and 4RM+ULA.
The judges note, "Target Field Station is one of the first spaces in the country to truly integrate transit and culture. The site's Great Lawn provides a green stage for pregame events, community concerts, and other activities, and an urban plaza includes areas for restaurants and cultural and entertainment events."
Opened last summer, the $79.3-million rail hub was recognized for its role as an interchange for multiple modes of transportation, including light-rail, bus and bike.
AIA applauds Target Field Station for its adherence to the "open transit" principles, "beginning with its compression into a dense, high-quality series of interconnected experiences. This density created comfortable walking distances with clear sight lines, bringing the varying transit modes together; opened up the rest of the site to allow for future development."
Meanwhile, a proposed future development, the construction of the Southwest light-rail line that would stretch from Target Field Station to Eden Prairie, has hit resistance at the State Capitol.
