Blending into the Neighborhood

While residents in some city neighborhoods and first-ring suburbs complain about new houses and out-of-scale remodels that block their views and light, members of the Fulton Neighborhood Association in southwest Minneapolis took a different tact when they started the BLEND awards in 2007. The acronym may be belabored (it stands for “Buildings and Landscapes Enhancing the Neighborhood through Design”), but the idea of recognizing newly constructed and remodeled homes that blend into the fabric of a neighborhood rather than clashing with it is at least as constructive as posting those “No Monster Houses” signs. The program, now expanded beyond the Fulton neighborhood to include Armatage, East Harriet Farmstead, Kenny, Linden Hills, Lynnhurst, and West Calhoun, recognized six projects this year with a BLEND award.

 The winners: