Teamwork creates a vision …
Early in the design stages, the team came up with a theme for the architecture: "A Community Tapestry" – a weaving together of the city’s richly diverse history, culture, neighborhoods, and landscapes. Complementing and enhancing the existing surroundings quickly emerged as a key design goal. Colors, materials, shapes, and design elements of historic neighbors like the Hamm and Lowry Buildings and the St. Paul Hotel were borrowed, echoed, or aligned with. Twelfth-story views of the St. Paul Cathedral and the riverfront were imagined. The ramp’s retail element was envisioned as a "pedestrian arcade" common to the area’s historical roots.

"Lawson Commons doesn’t look like somebody just planted it there. It has a feeling of the new growing out of the old." – Keith Beneke, Project Manager, Kraus-Anderson Construction Company