Eagan Art House, designed by JLG Architects, was recently honored with three notable awards, ranging from parks & recreation recognition to the City of Eagan, Minnesota’s leadership in sustainability best practices. Eagan Art House is the first fossil-fuel-free building owned by the City, leveraging geothermal energy, roof-mounted solar panels, and low-carbon timber.
Operated by the City of Eagan’s Parks & Recreation Department, the new Eagan Art House is a 10,200-square-foot, purpose-built arts center nestled within Patrick Eagan Park. The thoughtfully designed community arts facility opened in June of 2025, replacing a beloved but undersized 1950s 1,200-square-foot rambler that had been serving the arts community since 1997.
This summer, JLG’s sustainable design of the Eagan Art House earned an Award of Excellence from the Minnesota Recreation & Parks Association and recognition from Finance & Commerce as one of its Top Projects in 2025. Crediting an ambitious Climate Action Plan guiding the Art House design, the City of Eagan was additionally honored by the League of Minnesota Cities with a 2026 Sustainable City Award.
“This was a collaborative and transformative design process, where everyone on the team was learning from one another – all focused on creating a welcoming and thriving new community space,” said JLG Job Captain, Neva Hubbert, LEED AP BD+C. “It was really special to see the City fully engaged in the design process, everything from daylight analyses and life cycle assessments to life cycle cost analysis of the mechanical systems and sustainable funding exercises. This involvement ensured everyone understood why it was important, offering a new perspective and greater possibilities for what a ‘sustainable building’ means.”
Reimagining the Artists’ Environment
The new Art House invites all ages to “Live Creatively” through expanded space for visual arts education, painting and drawing studios, gallery exhibitions, and specialized equipment for pottery and glasswork. Beyond studio workspaces and flexible classrooms, Eagan Art House offers a dedicated space for outdoor Raku firing, altogether creating an indoor-outdoor destination capable of hosting thousands of community users year-round.
Architecturally, the design of Eagan Art House treats the building and landscape as an extension of the artists’ creative process. Each space has expansive views of Patrick Eagan Park and the surrounding natural landscape, cultivating a rich, daylit environment essential for art making and community gathering.
To ensure daylighting reached every corner of the Art House, JLG maximized north lighting and top lighting to minimize the reliance on electric lighting throughout the day. During the design process, daylighting strategies were repeatedly tested and evaluated, which informed a strategically placed skylight within the Welcome Lobby that directs natural light to the center of the building; a central gathering point where artwork is displayed. A second daylighting solution included solar tubes that deliver diffused natural light in lieu of higher-cost light scoops.
Creative Conservation
JLG’s all-electric Art House design integrates a variety of innovative sustainability features, including the City’s largest municipally owned solar array, a geothermal heating and cooling system, and a wood structural system of Cross Laminate Timber (CLT) and Glue-Laminated Beams (glulam). This hybrid system has less than half the carbon footprint of an equivalent steel structure, with glulam locally manufactured.
With over 1,200 lakes, streams, and ponds located in Eagan, water played an important role in the project, both within the building and on-site. The Art House is designed to protect water resources through water-sensitive design strategies, including native planting communities, permeable surfaces throughout the landscape, and limiting hardscapes and stormwater runoff.
To maximize the energy generation capabilities of the roof, the air-handling unit was placed on the ground, and the roof’s edge was extended beyond the building envelope. This adjustment forged additional space for solar panels, preserved the project’s top-lighting strategies, and created an expansive roof canopy for unique outdoor gathering spaces. The City has estimated that the roof-top array will generate approximately 59kW (DC) of energy for the Art House annually.
As noted by the City, these features work together to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 33 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually while lowering energy consumption and operating costs.”
The project’s strategic sustainability investments will deliver long-term financial benefits, including geothermal and solar energy systems expected to “reduce monthly energy costs by more than $10,000 while decreasing reliance on external energy sources. Approximately $2 million from the Sustainability Fund supported the building’s sustainability features.”
Award of Excellence
The Minnesota Recreation & Parks Association (MRPA) awarded Eagan Art House an Award of Excellence in the Park & Facility Projects category, honoring outstanding achievement in Minnesota’s parks, recreation, and leisure services.
The MRPA’s Awards of Excellence program recognizes Minnesota-based agencies, individuals, or organizations for unique accomplishments, asking nominees to explain the project’s sustainability goals, integration of technology, community support and impact, partner collaborations, and processes for evaluation, planning, review, and funding.
Top Projects in 2025
As a second recognition, Finance & Commerce selected Eagan Art House as one of its Top Projects in 2025. Eagan Art House and a second JLG-designed project, HealthPartners Fieldhouse at the TruStone Center, were honored at a July 23rd event at Quincy Hall in Minneapolis, MN.
When selecting the Finance & Commerce Top Projects, an independent panel of judges examined the degree of difficulty, creativity in design, innovative construction techniques, cooperation among contractors and management, and sustainability efforts. Eagan Art House and HealthPartners Fieldhouse will be featured in a special edition magazine, a series of stories and photos in the Finance & Commerce daily newspaper, and on the website.
Sustainable City
In June, the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) selected the City of Eagan for the 2026 Sustainable City Award. The award recognizes the City’s environmental leadership, specifically for incorporating green design strategies into the rebuilt Eagan Art House and the implementation of its Climate Action Plan.
According to the LMC, the rebuilt Eagan Art House serves as “a visible example of the city’s commitment to sustainability and climate action. The project was the first major capital investment funded through Eagan’s Sustainability Fund, which is supported by a utility franchise fee dedicated entirely to sustainability initiatives.”
The new Eagan Art House reflects years of community advocacy and City leadership focused on advancing sustainability as a strategic priority. According to the City, in 2022, the Council identified sustainability as a key organizational goal, leading to the creation of dedicated sustainability funding, the hiring of professional sustainability staff, and development of Eagan’s first Climate Action Plan. The plan was adopted in 2025 to reduce communitywide greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2035 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Community Engagement & Collaboration
Community engagement drove both the Eagan Art House project and its Climate Action Plan. According to the City of Eagan, more than 30 residents, business representatives, and community organizations participated in developing the Climate Action Plan, with public input shaping JLG’s design of the facility.
Eagan Art House Project Team
The award-winning design of the Eagan Art House was led by JLG Architects (Architecture & Interiors), in collaboration with H+U Construction (Contractor), Damon Farber (Landscape Architect), Emanuelson Podas, Inc. (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Engineers), Bell Structural (Glulam beams), and Cedar Creek Energy (Solar Array).
“Eagan Art House is a beautiful example of JLG’s Integrative Design Process, connecting our architects, interior designers, and sustainability specialists with the client, engineers, and contractor to create a fluid working dynamic that results in constant feedback and testing of design ideas. Together, we have developed a cohesive, high-performing design solution that exceeds the client’s goals while enhancing the landscape and benefiting the surrounding community.” —Pete Mikelson, AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP | Director of Integrative Design, JLG Architects
