Photos: Belu Photography
The co-working space was awarded first place in commercial design by ASID.
In September 2025, Wayzata welcomed a new way to work. ModernWell, a co-working concept that saw exceptional success since originally opening in Minneapolis in 2018, was continuing to grow in members. Founder (and Minnetonka resident) Julie Burton set her sights on a second location closer to home.
Now, ModernWell Wayzata has been open for nearly a year, and it’s catching more than just the attention of local business owners and freelancers. At its annual gala, the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) singled it out for first-place recognition. ModernWell Wayzata was in fact one of three first-place projects by PureAlchemy Design.
“It was a really exciting night,” says PureAlchemy Design owner and principal designer Stephany Eaton. “For ModernWell Wayzata, the recognition felt especially gratifying because [Burton] trusted us with a clear purpose: create a space where members could work, gather, meet and connect in a way that felt true to ModernWell and true to Wayzata.”
We asked Eaton to share more about this award-winning project.
What are your main objectives when designing a co-working space?
The first objective is to understand how many different ways the space needs to function in a single day. People may come in for focused work, a client meeting, a quick call, a collaborative session or an evening event. The design has to support all of those uses without feeling cluttered or confusing.
For ModernWell Wayzata, that was especially important because the space is only 2,350 square feet, yet it needed to include private offices, a daylit boardroom, a smaller conference room, work bars, a phone booth, an event-ready commons and a strong sense of welcome.
What was the ambiance you were looking to create for this project, and what design elements helped achieve it?
We wanted ModernWell Wayzata to feel calm, warm, elevated and quietly energized. It needed to feel professional enough for business, comfortable enough for long work sessions and special enough for events and community gatherings.
A lot of that feeling came from the combination of details. The board-and-batten adds structure and character without making the space feel heavy. The wave-pattern carpet gives a subtle nod to Lake Minnetonka without becoming overly literal. Warm woods and brass accents bring in depth, and the layered lighting gives the space softness and personality.
Did you learn anything unexpected or overcome a specific challenge along the way?
The most unusual condition was the site itself. The entire footprint sits over water, which is both a charming Wayzata detail and a very real design and construction consideration. There is something memorable about a lakeside workspace that is quite literally on the water, but it meant the infrastructure had to be planned very carefully.
At certain points, our subcontractor partners were quite literally working below the floor in waders to make the project happen. It is one of those behind-the-scenes details most people would never know when they walk into the finished space, which is exactly the goal.
ModernWell won First Place in the Commercial – Corporate Office category. Which design elements do you think contributed to its success in the eyes of ASID?
I think the success of ModernWell came from the way every part of the space had a job to do, but the finished environment still feels warm and easy to be in. The identity of the space also played a major role. ModernWell needed to feel connected to Wayzata and Lake Minnetonka without becoming overly literal.
I also think the project resonates because it feels very specific. It does not look like a generic co-working space dropped into Wayzata. It feels like ModernWell, it feels connected to the lake and it supports the role [Burton] wanted the space to play as a hub for connection in the Wayzata area.
PureAlchemy Design
Instagram: @purealchemy_design
ModernWell Wayzata
Instagram: @modernwellwayzata
