About The BLEND Award
The BLEND Award encourages and rewards builders, architects, and home owners to blend newly remodeled or constructed homes and businesses into the fabric of Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhoods. A jury of industry professionals and neighborhood residents select projects for recognition.
The BLEND Award recognizes that redevelopment of the residential parts of the neighborhood is both a given and a positive indicator for the neighborhood. Our goals are to 1) ensure that the redevelopment builds upon the qualities that have made Minneapolis a place where people have chosen to live for so many years, 2) ensure redevelopments respect the privacy, light access, private views of neighboring properties and maintain a human scale, and 3) encourage redevelopment and construction of homes that are diverse and innovative in design but still compatible with the neighborhood.
In crafting these guidelines, we recognize that the type of buildings that are appropriate on one block would not necessarily be appropriate if they were built on another block. For this reason, we are not recommending inflexible measures, but instead that the designers consider the homes in the immediate vicinity of their home when building or remodeling.
The BLEND Awards were started in 2007 as a project of the Fulton Neighborhood Association. In 2018, BLEND expanded to include projects in St. Paul as well as Minneapolis.
Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the BLEND Awards were presented in virtual ceremonies in 2020 and 2021, and took a hiatus in 2022. In 2023, the BLENS Awards Committee decided that the better part of the original vision had been fulfilled it the time was right to sunset the BLEND Awards. The website with winning projects from 2007-2021 will be available through 2025.
The BLEND Award recognizes that redevelopment of the residential parts of the neighborhood is both a given and a positive indicator for the neighborhood. Our goals are to 1) ensure that the redevelopment builds upon the qualities that have made Minneapolis a place where people have chosen to live for so many years, 2) ensure redevelopments respect the privacy, light access, private views of neighboring properties and maintain a human scale, and 3) encourage redevelopment and construction of homes that are diverse and innovative in design but still compatible with the neighborhood.
In crafting these guidelines, we recognize that the type of buildings that are appropriate on one block would not necessarily be appropriate if they were built on another block. For this reason, we are not recommending inflexible measures, but instead that the designers consider the homes in the immediate vicinity of their home when building or remodeling.
The BLEND Awards were started in 2007 as a project of the Fulton Neighborhood Association. In 2018, BLEND expanded to include projects in St. Paul as well as Minneapolis.
Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the BLEND Awards were presented in virtual ceremonies in 2020 and 2021, and took a hiatus in 2022. In 2023, the BLENS Awards Committee decided that the better part of the original vision had been fulfilled it the time was right to sunset the BLEND Awards. The website with winning projects from 2007-2021 will be available through 2025.
About the Best in Show Award
In 2015, the BLEND committee established a "Best in Show" recognition. This recipient is selected by BLEND judges among all BLEND Award recipients. The Best in Show is announced at the Awards ceremony and received special recognition. Additionally, the Best in Show project will be featured prominently on the BLEND website and highlighted in our post-ceremony press release and outreach. While not a requirement for Best in Show honors, receipt of an EcoBLEND Badge will be a consideration. Starting in 2018, a "Best in Minneapolis" and "Best in St. Paul" dual recognitions were established.
About the EcoBLEND Badge / Award
The original EcoBLEND Award was created in 2012 to recognize projects that incorporate eco-friendly design and sustainable building practices into new and remodeled projects in Minneapolis. The EcoBLEND Badge does the same - but at a lower threshold than the full-blown EcoBLEND Award. The EcoBLEND Badge is intended to honor projects that not only represent good neighborhood design, but also go above & beyond building code and general expectations regarding the overall environmental 'footprint' of the project. Only those projects judged to receive a BLEND Award will be eligible for an EcoBLEND Badge or Award. Click here for more about EcoBLEND!
The EcoBLEND Badge is presented through a partnership between the BLEND Awards Committee and Minneapolis Climate Action (formerly known as Linden Hills Power & Light), a neighborhood-based organization aiming to shrink the local carbon footprint through education, community engagement and action. LHP&L promotes sustainable energy, waste reduction and energy conservation. LHP&L brings new and innovative programs, or best practices from established programs, to Linden Hills, Minneapolis and surrounding communities and organizations.
For questions about the EcoBLEND Badge, contact [email protected].
For questions about the EcoBLEND Badge, contact [email protected].
Blend Award Committee
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