University parters with National Science Foundation to renovate St. Anthony Falls Laboratory

The St. Anthony Falls Laboratory sits right on the Mississippi River, overlooking St. Anthony Falls. It uses the Mississippi river, diverting water from above the falls and sending it back to the river below the falls. Built in the 1930s by the Depression-era Works Progress Administration, the laboratory is still going strong, and is about to see a major renovation.

The St. Anthony Falls Laboratory is a research center of the University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering, hosting interdisciplinary research. According to [MU1] Miki Hondzo, Professor of Civil Engineering and an Associate Director for Research and Development of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, this four-level facility channels river water around and through the building.  The structure includes water and wind tunnels.

St. Anthony Falls Laboratory focuses research on environmental restoration, renewable energy and energy exploration. Within these three areas, experiments are engineered for restoring streams and wetlands, managing storm water, restoring shorelines and deltas, mitigating climate change and impact on fish population, among others.

Laboratory experiments, theoretical analyses, and numerical simulations of simplified processes are used at the laboratory to understand the underlying physics of a particular process. For example the lab has recreated riverbed and delta morphologies, using sediments and water flow. They are analyzed in the lab and then researchers go back into the field to test against field observations. The circle represents the continuous process for collecting, analyzing and explaining data under laboratory and field conditions.

When asked what makes St. Anthony Falls Laboratory unique, Hondzo cited  several aspects of the facility. First, the laboratory has a unique and creative technical support team. NotSecond, because the facility is in such a singular location, staff has the ability to develop their own cutting-edge research equipment. Third, St. Anthony Falls Laboratory is well known at national and even international levels for leading water resources, geophysical, and environmental research.

Because of the lab's unique qualities, renovation has become crucial. Hondzo explained that there is no central air conditioning, the elevator cannot function, mechanical equipment is degrading, and code requirements have not been met. The lab has been identified as Academic Research Infrastructure (ARI) Facility for recovery and reinvestment, and was one of ten labs throughout the country to receive funding from the National Science Foundation to remodel, restore and refine its use.  The University of Minnesota has allocated Minnesota Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement funds for the project.  So the facility, which was built during the 1930s Depression WPA and University of Minnesota funding will be restored with partial support from stimulus funds appropriated for recovery from the 2008 recession.

The University of Minnesota selected the Perkins + Will architecture firm to head the project. According to the ‘Schematic Design Report’ for the infrastructure upgrade, the renovation of St. Anthony Falls Laboratory will make essential progress in all areas of exploration including BioFuel and Hydro Kinetic Turbine Research, as well as the dynamics of wave climate on shorelines.  The restoration of this historic site will make it “the first modern surface process laboratory for energy and the environment.”  Featured projects also include: water and wastewater treatment, water quality of lakes, rivers and reservoirs, wind engineering, and hydropower plants and hydraulic structures.

Adam Hirsch

@adamhirschj or adam.hirschj@gmail.com