The Rose Minneapolis - Affordable and Sustainable
Last Updated: Feb 26, 2025In the summer of 2015, two affordable-housing developers in Minneapolis, Aeon and Hope Community, completed a four-level multi-family housing project designed to meet the standards of the Living Building Challenge. The LBC is often referred to as "LEED on steroids" and "the world's most rigorous proven performance standard." Its focus is on "regenerative buildings" that are self-sufficient, operate within the resource limits on-site, and positively connect occupants with nature, natural resources, food, and community.
Table of Contents
- How Did The Rose Address The Living Building Challenge's Petals and Equity?
- The Design
- How Did the Rose Design for Energy Efficiency?
- What Energy Efficiency Measures Did the Rose Implement?
- What Water Efficiency Measures Did the Rose Implement?
- Why Did The Rose Focus on Health and Equity in Design?
- What Lessons Learned Did The Rose Provide?
At the time, Aeon, the lead developer, was determined to demonstrate that The Rose, a 90-unit apartment building, could be affordable, sustainable, net-zero-ready, and constructed on a super-tight budget. At the time of completion, said Gina Ciganik, then Aeon's vice president of housing development (she's currently CEO of the Healthy Building Network in Minneapolis-St. Paul), "We'd do it again. You have to adapt it to your own value system, but we think it's a great framework."
Some houses have been built to meet the LBC. According to Ciganik, when the Rose was constructed, no other affordable, multi-family housing projects had been built to LBC standards. (More than half of The Rose's 90 units are affordable housing.) Yet, Aeon wasn't new to sustainability. Prior multi-family housing projects had received LEED Platinum and Gold certifications.
LBC would raise the bar farther. "Using LBC as a framework meant creating a sustainable property that would not only provide residents from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds with access to sustainable, healthy living," says Alan Arthur, Aeon's president, and CEO, "but creating The Rose would mean developing a model that would transform an industry."
And, now? Six years later? "We learned a lot," Arthur says.
How Did The Rose Address The Living Building Challenge's Petals and Equity?
The LBC comprises seven petals: site, water, energy, materials, health, equity, and beauty. It's an aspirational set of challenges rather than a single challenge. As the design process progressed, the team felt the equity petal didn't do enough. So, they used equity as a lens through which to focus on the resident experience. Energy, water, materials, and health became the petals they applied to the project to have the most impact on The Rose's residents and operations.
Also, the developers built The Rose on a 1.65-acre urban site, formerly a brownfield. The project adds housing to an area already under development with apartments and a mixed-use area with good walkability and multi-modal transportation opportunities. The Rose has a residents' community room, workout and yoga rooms, and a community garden.
The Design
MSR Architects in Minneapolis designed the Rose as of two rectangular four-story boxes separated by a fenced-in courtyard and play area, with parking below each building. Glassed-in public entrances and common areas greet the street. The ground-floor units walk out to the road or the courtyard. Approximately half of the upper-floor units have balconies; some have projecting bays.
How Did the Rose Design for Energy Efficiency?
The project team used data and energy modeling to maximize energy efficiency, starting with the building design. The Rose's two-building east-west orientation brings in solar gain during the winter on the south facade and limits east and western exposures during the summer when the need for cooling increases. The team also optimized the spacing between buildings to allow sun penetration into the north building's first-floor south-facing apartments on the winter solstice.
While the LBC target was an energy use intensity (EUI) of 30 kBtu per square foot per year or less, The Rose's actual performance is an EUI of 58. The design team planned The Rose so it could convert to an all-electric building in the future. As such, the primary systems are electric—excluding domestic hot water, garage heating, and ventilation air tempering—and the average annual energy use varies by unit type and residents.
What Lessons Learned Did The Rose Provide?
Simplify Heating and Cooling in the Future
In retrospect, Arthur says, a simpler HVAC system would have helped residents modify their heating and cooling preferences with greater energy efficiency. "The system is highly computerized and is more complicated than it needs to be," he says. "In future projects, we're learning more toward a Passive House and getting the envelope right instead of going with fancy computerized system." In the meantime, Aeon has installed utility meters in the units, so residents pay for the utilities they use and see the benefits of sustainable habits.
Focus on Indoor Air Quality Was Well Worth It
Among the strategies The Rose got right, Arthur says, are the building envelope and the team's focus on healthy materials, finishes, and furnishings that contribute to healthy indoor air. "Materials used in traditional construction often have negative impacts on resident health, and there is inequity in the use of healthy building practices," Arthur says. "Healthy indoor-air quality practices are often inaccessible for low-income people and affordable housing providers. We have helped make these practices more accessible by researching and expanding the list of sustainable, healthy building materials."
The Project Benefited the Multi-Family Development Industry
Research completed during the construction of The Rose has influenced the practices of the Healthy Building Network, Green Communities Minnesota Overlay, and MSR. "We've shared our lessons learned in the United States and internationally to make sustainability a common practice in affordable housing," Arthur says.
We have helped educate our funders on the impact of innovation in affordable housing and have proven outcomes to support future investment. This has paved the way for more developers to push for innovative sustainability practices. The healthy living strategies, equity lens, and sustainable strategies used in The Rose have also leveled the playing field for all populations.
Camille LeFevre
Camille LeFevre is an architecture and design writer based in the Twin Cities.
