RONDO COMMEMORATIVE PLAZA

A community plaza reconciling devastating history while transforming and reimagining the future of a neighborhood and a movement towards justice.

Saint Paul, Minnesota

5,662 SF

2016-2018

Rondo Commemorative Plaza is a space that ACKNOWLEDGES the violent deconstruction of St. Paul’s historic and first Black neighborhood Rondo, REMEMBERS the people and places that once resided there and INVITES the whole community to celebrate the future of Rondo. The project was built in partnership and close collaboration within the design team as phase one of a larger vision stewarded by Rondo Avenue Inc. (RAI). The project provides a series of spaces that allow people to gather, reflect, play, perform and learn. The plaza sets a powerful precedent for the capacity of a landscape to reconcile devastating histories while transforming and reimagining the futures of neighborhoods and cities and a movement towards reconciliation and justice.

The Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul was the heart of the Black community. By the 1950s, this cohesive and self-sustained hamlet was home to more than 80% of the city’s Black population and a host of businesses and civic organizations. The 1956 Federal Highway Act, authorized construction of 41,000 miles of highways across the U.S. The system targeted underrepresented communities, giving urban planners the opportunity to clean up “slums”, decimating thriving Black communities, reshaping the physical, political, and racial landscape.
Two routes were considered for I-94: an industrial corridor without residences, and another through the Rondo neighborhood. Residents were forced to sell their homes/businesses at a fraction of the property value. Those who refused to leave were met with sledgehammers by police.
In 1980, Rondo Avenue Inc. was established to preserve its legacy and hold an annual community festival. The building and planning of the Rondo Commemorative Plaza involved many local and national stakeholders and built community connections at both scales.

The Rondo Commemorative Plaza embodies the resilience of a small urban community. Like many of the properties lost to the construction of Interstate 94, this pocket park is the size of a typical Saint Paul residential lot (5,662 SF). The program is manifested through a series of interpretive spaces, each interconnected to tell the story of the past, present, and future of the Rondo Neighborhood. The design team translated a modest budget into a meaningful and functional place recalling both residential and infrastructural landscapes through materials and assemblies. The project serves as a model for hope and change within American cities and Black communities where justice has yet to be realized and the truth has yet to be told.

PROJECT DETAILS

Location Saint Paul, Minnesota

Client + Project Committee Rondo Avenue Inc.

Team TEN x TEN, 4RM+ULA, Roger Cummings, Seitu Ken Jones

Area 5,662 SF

Status Completed in 2018

Photos Morgan Sheff Photography

AWARDS