Authority concept · Field Ratio Architecture + Engineering

North Loop Maker Workplace

A heavy-timber warehouse was being reconsidered for office, prototype, and gathering uses. New openings, egress, service routes, structure, and a phased tenant transition had to be tested against the existing frame.

North Loop warehouse interior retaining heavy timber while adding a precise black steel stair and mezzanine.

Project frame

Minneapolis · fictional adaptive-reuse workplace. The record is intentionally about decisions and coordination rather than invented completion metrics.

Decision sequence

  1. Document framing and existing unknowns
  2. Test program/adjacency against bay geometry
  3. Coordinate openings with structure and egress
  4. Reserve systems/service routes before ceilings harden
  5. Plan phased tenant transition around work zones

Practice connection

Relevant practice areas: Architecture, Structural Engineering, Existing Buildings.

What this record does not claim

No actual client, construction completion, award, licensure, healthcare/specialist compliance, energy result, budget result, or schedule performance is claimed.

Decision record

The heavy-timber bay spacing becomes the organizing constraint. Prototype activity, meeting/gathering, workplace zones, and new openings are tested against the frame rather than drawn first and engineered later. Existing egress and service routes are recorded as constraints alongside the desired tenant experience.

The phased transition also changes the option set: a scheme that requires every system to move simultaneously may be architecturally clean but operationally wrong. The project record makes that tradeoff visible.

TruePoint concept · fictional A/E practice · Built for Aster