NINA EBBIGHAUSEN
Alliiance
SAY IT LOUD - Minnesota Exhibitor
Minnesota Based Designer
Who or what inspires you professionally?
My teaching frequently inspires my practice. I find that I’m constantly researching and refining what I think in order to communicate well with students. This process keeps ideas current and alive for me.
NINA EBBIGHAUSEN
Bio:
The Great designer, Nina Ebbighausen, Senior Associate, Adjunct Associate Professor
Nina’s belief that architecture carries a social responsibility has led to her long- standing involvement and leadership in architectural education and a career focus on public work. She’s been working at Alliiance in Minneapolis and teaching architectural design at UMN since 1999. Nina has received awards for her design work and for her dedication to public work and outstanding involvement and leadership in architectural education.
How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
I grew up in an immigrant family and we moved a lot. My parents were creative, constructing their own furniture to make ends meet. I discovered that decorating my room helped me feel rooted. I settled on architecture when I applied for college.
What do you do?
I practice architecture and I teach architecture. For fun, I also dance (primarily modern and ballet).
What excites you in the work you do?
I love the experiential aspects of architecture - how the visitor’s body can engage with light, textures, views, sounds, temperatures... Choreographing memorable moments along a path is one of architecture’s most powerful tools.
Who or what inspires you professionally?
My teaching frequently inspires my practice. I find that I’m constantly researching and refining what I think in order to communicate well with students. This process keeps ideas current and alive for me.
What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
Working as Project Manager with Cesar Pelli to design the Minneapolis Central Library. Pelli was such a great role model for integrity, talent and humility, and the project continues to have a lasting impact on the lives of thousands of people.
Featured Project Name:
Xcel Hiawatha West Substation Enclosure
Featured Project Location:
Minneapolis, MN
Featured Project Completion Date:
2014
Role in Featured Project:
Lead Designer, Project Architect
Featured Project Description:
Hiawatha is a hub connecting diverse movement corridors and physical conditions, in an area marked by iconic grain elevators and city skyline. Nearly 40,000 cars plus light rail, bicycles, and pedestrians pass the substation each day, and the wall reflects the quality of flow and motion surrounding the site. It is situated in a remediated brownfield planted intermittently with sapling oaks and surrounded by big box retail, transit infrastructure, industrial structures, and multi-family housing.
Photography Credit:
Farm Kid Studios
Featured Project Name:
Xcel Midtown Substation Enclosure
Featured Project Location:
Minneapolis, MN
Featured Project Completion Date:
2015
Role in Featured Project:
Lead Designer, Project Architect
Featured Project Description:
The Midtown substation enclosure is a hybrid of utility and site sculpture. Its upper walls create a focal point that bridges vertically between the bike/pedestrian Greenway below and neighborhood above, recalling the Greenway’s contours and natural textures while also reflecting the scale of street level buildings. The lower walls are a more intimately scaled wooden “picket fence” that alternately reveals and obscures the substation beyond.
