Sixteen fourth-year architecture students from North Dakota State University will have their creative sights set on downtown Minot for the next several months.

Kristi Hanson, adjunct professor of architecture at NDSU, is leading her students in a semester-long urban design project to create a newly conceptualized vision for downtown Minot, complete with detailed artist renderings of new ideas for the community. It follows a similar vision project for Medora, North Dakota in 2021.

The architecture students toured downtown Minot on foot on Sunday, January 29th. The following morning, they met with various stakeholders for downtown Minot and the broader Minot community to gather information and inspiration for the project.

"As we visited key locations in Minot and spoke to various community stakeholders, we saw a lot of hope and passion. It has inspired us to do something amazing in downtown Minot," Hanson said.

The project was initiated by Kevin Black, 2023 Chair of the Minot Area Chamber EDC Board of Directors.

"We are so grateful to Kristi and her students for dedicating their time and talent to the Magic City," Black said. "We all want Minot to be a place that our children and grandchildren are proud to call home. The vision this class creates will help us tell the story of the magic of Minot for decades to come."

Brekka Kramer, the President | CEO of the Minot Area Chamber EDC, says the project aligns perfectly with the organization's mission to advocate for and invest in business activity by being a collaborative partner in the community — and it fits into Gov. Doug Burgum's ongoing Main Street Initiative.

“This collaboration fits a broader statewide initiative that envisions healthy, vibrant cities and gives community leaders the tools they need to capitalize on their community’s strengths,” said Kramer.

“Downtown Minot is already such a vibrant place – and it’s full of opportunities," Kramer continued. "On behalf of our Board of Directors, our stakeholders, our partners and our community, we welcome the NDSU class to Minot!"

Sofia Naranjo Mata, an architecture student at NDSU, said the potential to enhance Minot's urban space excites her.

"Not every architecture student gets a chance like this — to work on a project that directly impacts people," she said. "This is an amazing opportunity for us to put our years of education together and create something special for the Minot community."

Hanson's architecture class will present the results of their semester-long project at 1:30 PM on May 3rd in the Swiontek Center of Gate City Bank in Fargo. The presentation will be open to community members.

See some of our favorite photos of the architecture class's visit to Minot below!