Izzy’s Ice Cream Kitchen & Retail Shop / Salmela Architect

Save this picture!

+ 31

Save this picture!

Text description provided by the architects. Izzy’s is the quintessential neighborhood mom and pop ice cream store. Jeff Sommers and Lara Hammel quit jobs in teaching and law to open an ice cream store in a small rented store front in St Paul MN 13 years ago. Due to growing demand they decided to create a Minneapolis branch which would have a small retail shop and a larger kitchen where they could continue small-batch ice cream production. Their environmental thinking led them to a small site in down­town Minneapolis across Gold Medal Flour Park from Nouvel’s Guthrie Theater along the Mississippi riverfront, that had been laying vacant for years due to the financial infeasibility of its dimunitive size and brownfield conditions. When Jeff and Lara approached us to design the Minneapolis ice cream kitchen and retail shop, they wanted it to be an example of environmental stewardship and humane work environment.