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FeedCivic Pride
Phillip Koski is out to design more than just buildings
By Jacquelyn B. Fletcher
Photo by Eric Moore
“According to my mother, I was very fond of building bridges with Legos and Erector sets from a very early age,” says the 40-year-old Cloquet native. This passion eventually led Koski to a degree in architecture from the University of Minnesota, and a master’s in architecture from the University of Virginia. After student internships in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Koski landed his first full-time job at FPW Architects in Charlottesville, Virginia Four years later, he moved home to Minnesota to work for Hammel, Green & Abrahamson (HGA) in Minneapolis and continue honing his vision of architecture.
“I’m interested in making the city a livable place, not just how you enter the building, but how does the building actually create street life around it?” Koski says. “How does it animate the city? How does it become a player in the greater life of the city, and how does it nurture the people who use it?” At HGA he played to his passions by working on projects such as the Pantages Theatre, the Light Rail Transit station in downtown Minneapolis, and the Hennepin Avenue Streetscape.
Photo Provided By Troy Thies
With every project, Koski maintains his strong belief in the link between architecture and its role in a community. “This guy lives, breathes, and eats architecture,” Grundstrom says. “It’s not just what he gives to the firm. He also volunteers for [American Institute of Architects] Minnesota. He writes about architecture. He was chair of the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission.”
Koski isn’t content to sit in his office and conceive of buildings, says Julie Snow of Julie Snow Architects, Inc., who nominated him for the national AIA Young Architects Award. “He has redefined the architect’s role as that of the engaged practitioner.”
With a long list of publishing credits, awards, and volunteer work, Koski embodies this new model of architecture. “I want to show how architects can contribute to society,” he says. “Architects have a certain skill set that is valuable in a lot of ways besides the creation of buildings.”
Koski has already made a difference—even if the perfectionist in him can’t yet see it. “He really is an old- fashioned architect’s architect,” Grundstrom says. “When he is at the end of his life or his career, whichever comes first, and he looks back, he will have left a very important mark in the built environment and the city of Minneapolis.”
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Jacquelyn B. Fletcher is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer.
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