Files
Date of Award
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Architecture
College
Arts and Sciences
Department
Architecture
Faculty Advisor
Charlott Greub
Studio Coordinator
Stephen Wischer
Faculty Chair
Susan Kliman
Publisher
North Dakota State University
Rights
NDSU policy 190.6.2
URI
https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf
Abstract
This thesis explores the built environment through social and architectural lenses: examining how food connects communities, particularly ethnic and diasporic groups like the Hmong, and how adaptive interventions can create spaces that foster closed-loop food systems.
Research into the Hmong diasporic journey has shown that growing, making, and sharing food has been a central aspect to the community. The Hmong community's food assimilation in the United States has replaced traditional agrarian lifestyles with reliance on local American grocery stores. These stores operate within linear "take, make, use, waste" systems that disconnect consumers from food origins. However, spaces like the HmongTown Marketplace in Saint Paul, Minnesota, are beginning to counter this through local shopping, eating, and cooking.
This thesis uses the HmongTown Marketplace and its existing food elements as the basis for architectural exploration, examining how closing the food production cycle within existing structures and spaces can strengthen connections between the Hmong community and the broader Saint Paul population.
Recommended Citation
Lee, Sulia Sheng, "Adaptive Reuse at the Hmongtown Marketplace: Using Food as an Agent for Gathering Through a Closed-Loop Circular Food System" (2026). Architecture Theses. 64.
https://digitalcommons.ndsu.edu/architecture-theses/64