architect
eric amel, faia
Eric Amel thrives on design projects that require careful analysis, creative thinking, and exquisite execution. Over thirty years, Eric has collaborated with leading design firms and architects as a highly versatile, pragmatic, and creative architect. His projects range in function, materials and appearance, yet they are unified by a sensitive design voice that combines function, sustainability, public space, and beauty.
Prior to joining the Clow Berg team, Eric partnered regionally with MSR Design and Henning Larsen to deliver the AIA Award in Architecture-winning Minneapolis Public Service Building—the new face of public service for the City of Minneapolis.
Eric also served as project architect for 2019 AIA COTE Top Ten award-winning Tashjian Bee & Pollinator Discovery Center at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. The COTE award is the industry’s best-known award program for sustainable design excellence, nationally recognizing ten innovative projects each year for their integration of design excellence with environmental performance.
Eric has collaborated on numerous exceptional buildings in the Twin Cities community:
AIA National Honor Award-winning Minneapolis Public Service Building (MSR) with Henning Larsen and MWL Architects.
AIA National Honor Award-winning Lakewood Cemetery Garden Mausoleum (HGA) with Joan Soranno, FAIA + John Cook, FAIA
Walker Art Center Expansion (HGA + Herzog & de Meuron)
University of Minnesota Bruininks Hall (HGA + Kohn Pedersen Fox, NYC)
University of Minnesota Northrop Auditorium Revitalization (HGA)
University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Tashjian Bee & Pollinator Discovery Center (MSR)
Maple Grove Town Green Amphitheater (HGA)
American Swedish Institute Nelson Cultural Center (HGA)
Lakewood Cemetery Garden Mausoleum (2012) Architect-of-Record: HGA Landscape Architect: Halvorson
Role: Eric was responsible for the technical development and detailing of exterior envelop and apertures.
Photo by Peter Sieger
Lakewood Cemetery Garden Mausoleum / HGA Architects and Engineers | ArchDaily https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXzzMOnbpSI
Maple Grove Town Green, Maple Grove, MN (2011) Architect-of-Record: HGA Landscape Architect: Damon Farber Theatre and Lighting Consultant: Schuler Shook
Role: Eric was project designer and Project Architect.
2011 ASLA Minnesota Merit Award
Photo by Jake Halsne
Campbell County Rockpile Museum (project 2016) Gillette, WY Design Architect: MSR Design Landscape Architect: TEN X TEN
Role: Eric wrote the RFP response and conducted the interview that won this new museum commission. Eric served as project designer and Project Architect through Design Development.
2016 ASLA Minnesota Merit Award for
Unbuilt Works
ROCKPILE — TEN x TEN Landscape Architecture and Urbanism (tenxtenstudio.com)
Bruininks Hall, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (2010) Architect-of-Record: HGA Design Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF)
Role: Eric authored the Predesign study and worked directly with Bill Pedersen on the building’s schematic design. Eric’s program review led to an entire rethinking of the large-lecture, auditorium-style classrooms initially called for in the design brief. Eric’s research, and his ability to reframe a significant opportunity led to one of the most influential early designs for Active Learning Classrooms.
Photo by Tim Griffin
University of Minnesota - Bruininks Hall - HGA
Science Teaching and Student Services Center (Bruininks Hall) (kpf.com)
Sexton Commons, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, MN (1993) Architect-of-Record: Architecture Advantage (RRTL)
Role: Eric was project designer.
1994 AIA Minnesota Honor Award 2023 AIA Minnesota 25 Year Award
Photo by Peter Sieger
Tashjian Bee & Pollinator Discovery Center (2016) Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Architect-of-Record: MSR Design Landscape Architect: Damon Farber
Role: Eric wrote the successful RFP response to the University of Minnesota and served as Project Architect and Project Manager through design, construction, and completion.
2019 AIA COTE Top Ten Award 2016 AIA Minnesota Honor Award 2020 ASLA Minnesota Honor Award 2017 Wood Design Awards, Beauty of Wood Award
Photo by Chris Hudson
Tashjian Bee and Pollinator Discovery Center by MSR Design | Architect Magazine
Nelson Cultural Center at the American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis, MN (2012) Architect-of-Record: HGA
The slate shingle-clad cultural center addition to the historic mansion housing the American Swedish Institute supports this revered institution’s rejuvenation as an expanded campus that connects to the neighborhood, unifies the city block, and projects a cohesive urban place for community gathering. The resolutely contemporary Scandinavian design and materiality reflects ASI’s vision for the future while respecting its past.
Photo by Paul Crosby
World’s Only Corn Palace (2014) Mitchell, SD Architect-of-Record: MSR Design Associate Architect: TSP
Role: Eric served as Project Architect and Project Manager through design, construction, and completion of this major renovation of Mitchell’s heritage grain palace on the National Register of Historic Places.
Photo by Mitchell Chamber of Commerce
Minneapolis Public Service Building (2021) Minneapolis, MN Architect-of-Record: MSR Design Design Architect: Henning Larsen Public Safety Architect: MWL
Role: Eric created the partnership that won this selected design competition. Eric served as Project Architect and design liaison with Henning Larsen from conceptual design through construction and project completion.
2023 AIA Award – Architecture 2022 AIA New York Design Award 2021 AIA Minnesota Honor Award
Photo by Peter Seiger
Minneapolis Public Service Building / Henning Larsen + MSR Design | ArchDaily
City of Minneapolis Public Service Building - MSR Design Portfolio
Quarry Garden, Minneapolis, MN (2020) Architect-of-Record: MSR Design Landscape Architect: TEN x TEN
Role: Eric was Project Architect and designer.
2021 ASLA National Honor Award for Residential Design
Photo by Gaffer Photography
QUARRY GARDEN — TEN x TEN Landscape Architecture and Urbanism (tenxtenstudio.com)
Normandale Community College Parking Structure (2012) Bloomington, MN Design Architect: HGA
Role: Eric was project designer, functional designer, and Project Architect from Schematic Design through Construction Administration.
Vineland Place Parking Structure (2005) Minneapolis, MN Design Architect: HGA
Role: Eric was project designer, functional designer, and Project Architect from Schematic Design through Construction Administration.
Walker Art Center Expansion (2003) Minneapolis, MN Design Architect: HGA
Role: Eric led the complex design and construction of the 700-space parking garage. He coordinated, planned for and designed around the future demolition of the Guthrie Theater (razed in 2006). He was design liaison with French landscape architect Michel Desvigne for the expanded Minneapolis Sculpture Garden which required a deep green roof to support the architect’s vision for a thick grove of birch trees over the garage. Eric coordinated and documented the ceilings for the gallery expansion and designed the new administrative office suite. Eric also realized the “Sky Pesher” by James Turrell, which the Walker had purchased as a napkin sketch from the artist; this project included design development, detailing, consultant coordination and construction administration.
Photo by Chris Hudson
Baxter-Patrick James Island Library (2019) Charleston, SC Design Architect: MSR Design
Role: Design Architect. The James Island Library is designed to acknowledge a documented history stretching back more than 350 years—some of that history was exploitive. A long succession of planters who farmed several hundred acres of land here used the labor of enslaved people of African descent. Site planning responds to and respectfully connects to a cemetery with generations of enslaved families. The roofline of the building is broken into smaller house-like parcels.
Busan Exhibition & Convention Center (2001) Busan, South Korea Design Architect: The Leonard Parker Associates
Role: The dynamic wave-like building form is intended to mark sea change in South Korean economic progress. A convention and exhibition center located in southern, coastal city of Busan, BUEX features 500,000 SF of clear span exhibition space, 53 mee ng rooms, and a grand ballroom. All program elements are anchored by an 800-foot-long monumental glass hall generated from a toroid sec on. Within it, a stair imagined as a glass dragon connects to the skyway level.