Federal Customs and Border Entry
You are here
U.S. Land Port of Entry
2009–2012, Snow Kreilich Architects. 41059 MN 313.
-
(Photograph by Paul Crosby) -
Canopy and building entry (Photograph by Paul Crosby) -
Cedar-clad canopy (Photograph by Paul Crosby) -
Service lobby (Photograph by Paul Crosby) -
Work space (Photograph by Paul Crosby)
The Warroad Land Port of Entry is a 40,108-square-foot facility designed for the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—the federal agency responsible for securing the nation’s borders while facilitating trade and travel. Designed by Minneapolis-based Snow Kreilich Architects, the Port of Entry meets the security and aesthetic standards for both the CBP and the General Services Administration, the owner of the building. It is a superb expression early-twenty-first-century modernism applied to the demands of post–9/11 national security.
The entire facility is clad in sustainably harvested cedar siding, embracing the “north-woods” identity of the region. Vehicular inspection areas (experienced primarily from the car) and the public spaces are built with expanses of glass and warm, stained cedar siding to create a transparent, welcoming presence. The exterior cedar siding is finished in a black stain, anchoring the building to its site. The Port of Entry supports the safety and comfort of CBP officers in a cold winter climate. The building’s canopy covers their work area, where vehicles are inspected and travelers admitted. The warm cedar surfaces beneath the canopy provides a welcoming portal to the United States—unusual for many Land Port of Entry buildings. Angled building wings facilitate the officers’ ability to survey the entire nineteen-acre site, and allow vehicle access to secondary and commercial inspection areas.
This is the first U.S. land port to employ ground source heat pump systems, reducing the government’s purchase of energy by fifty percent. In 2014, the building won an AIA COTE Top Ten Award for its energy efficiency and sensitive approach to ecology and site.
References
AIA 2010-2012 Designs for the New Decade. Design Media Publishing. 2012.
Shapiro, Gideon Fink, Katie Weeks, and Annie Milewski. “2014 AIA COTE Top Ten Winner: U.S. Land Port of Entry, Warroad, Minn.” EcoBuilding Pulse, May 25, 2014. Accessed August 13, 2016. http://www.ecobuildingpulse.com.
“U.S. Land Port of Entry / Julie Snow Architects.” ArchDaily, February 21, 2011. Accessed August 13, 2016. http://www.archdaily.com/.
Writing Credits
Coordinator:
Frank Edgerton Martin
Victoria M. Young
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.