Architectural firm designs for the community and urban landscape

to build skyscrapers and make buildings with. It was just something that I was always drawn to.

the 2800 Lake Street Project (the old U.S. Bank building), which the firm is co-developing with Seward Redesign, as well as open spaces and other community-development projects.

When asked about his favorite design, Garrett said, “In terms of projects that are in process, I would say, the George Floyd Square redesign. Just being a part of a process that looks to bridge community, public safety, public works, and basic services, and to find some kind of middle

“I got this notebook from my parents, and I started sketching and drawing. I was trying to teach myself how to draw perspective. I was drawing all the buildings in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, and adding my own futuristic buildings to the skylines.

“Later that year, my parents discovered the notebook, and they started going through it, attended the University of California, Berkeley where he got a bachelor’s in architecture, and moved back to the Twin Cities, working for several dif- legacy would have been because of I-94. I’m very proud of that work that we’re doing,” he added.

“Being asked by the com- many of the projects and public spaces around the Twin Cities, including George Floyd Square, ground where people can feel seen and heard and protected, within the context of design ing community space,” is one of the firm’s most important projects, he said.

“In terms of projects that are buildings, I would say the Juxtaposition Art Center in North Minneapolis,” Garrett said.

“That building’s been a 15-year labor of love for me. We’re gonna have a big celebration when everything is done in July.”

Born in the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Thomas, Garrett moved to St. Paul—where his mother was from—at the age of one or two years old. He credits his parents with fostering his love of architecture.

“I wanted to be an architect probably since age five or six,” he recalled. “I started playing with Legos and Lincoln Logs, stacking anything that I could