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Downtown Minneapolis Skyscraper Studies      1971
In the founding year of the firm, Donald Knutsen hired Bentz/Thompson/Rietow to explore the imagery and feasibility of developing three city block sites in downtown Minneapolis.  One of the sites, at Sixth Street and Second Avenue South has since received its skyscraper in the form of I.M.Pei's First Bank Building.  It is important to note how advanced Bentz/Thompson/Rietow's studies were at that time, pre-dating many of downtown Minneapolis's office developments by over a quarter of a century.  These studies remain as a striking example of this firm's visionary design principles.
		Plan of downtown Minneapolis showing the three locations of the skyscraper studies depicted below: (from top to bottom) 4th St/2nd Ave. S, 5th St/Marquette Ave., and 6th St/2nd Ave. S.

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