From a sculptor’s studio in Switzerland to a technology and trade school in Milwaukee, the 10 award-winning projects chosen for AIA Wisconsin’s 2005 Design Awards program reflect innovative design from the Badger State. The jurors honored four projects with honor awards and three with merit awards. Three others received special recognition for a particular aspect of design.

Honor Awards

Sculptor Atelier Merkurstrasse, Gossau, Switzerland, by Gastrau Fuerer & Associates and FG Architektur
This sculptor’s studio and exhibit space graces a dense residential neighborhood in a Swiss village. The atelier, connected to an existing studio, is a sculpture in itself, boasting a curved structural steel form that creates a ceiling high enough to accommodate an overhead crane. The atelier’s east and west glass façades incorporate an angel-hair laminate to allow both natural daylight and privacy. Douglas fir provides a warm feeling and acoustical dampening on the interior, while zinc/titanium panels sheathe the exterior. “The project is well considered, refined, and elegant,” the jury said. “It is one of those projects that we all agreed has a jewel-like quality where every move relies on another move and depends on some internal or external shaping.”
Photo © Catweazle Productions.

Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School, Milwaukee, by HGA Architects & Engineers, in association with Continuum Architects and Planners SC
Located in Milwaukee’s historic Walker’s Point, the new state-of-the-art technical high school is the result of a unique public-private ownership. The facility is designed to be “schools within a school” for 1,440 students. Featuring three academies—construction, manufacturing, and communications—the articulated building provides for direct links between the academies and lab building via bridges through a skylight spine that admits daylight into the center of the deep plan structure. The north end of the spine connects to a two-story support building, which houses library, administration, and athletic facilities. This school is a 100-year building that can accommodate technologies that change annually. The engineering and design of the facility employ green-building principles, including daylighting, energy-efficient heating/cooling systems, and recycled building materials. “We were impressed with the successful resolution of a large complex in its industrial context and in its internal cultural context of school and shop and a type of gathering space,” the jury said.
Photo © John J. Korom Photography.

Frederick J. Miller Employee Meeting Center, Milwaukee, by La Dallman Architects Inc.
This project transforms an ordinary corporate office space into a modern interpretation of a 19th-century pub on the first floor of Miller Brewing Company’s headquarters. The interior design displays refined detailing through non-standard materials, such as mica panels and metal fabric. The architect custom-designed much of the furniture. A key element of the program was connecting the meeting space to an existing terrace, which now allows expansive views of the Miller campus’ 90-plus buildings. The meeting center also provides an exhibition area for Miller’s historical collections. “It is beautifully executed and elegantly finished, displaying restrained interiors that work on all levels. It is a very cozy and peaceful space,” the jury said.
Photo © Don Wong Photo, Inc./La Dallman Architects Inc.

The Irwin A. and Robert D. Goodman Jewish Community Campus Aquatic Center, Cedarburg, Wis., by The Kubala Washatko Architects Inc.
Designed to serve as a central hub of social activity, this center includes a pool house, 5,000-square-foot competition swimming pool, and a wading pool integrated in a natural, wooded landscape on a 154-acre campus. The architect worked with the client to revise the original master plan to take into account site and solar orientation as well as connection to other campus buildings. The new pool house displays a simple, straightforward wood-frame design, and the playful use of colors with stained cedar siding add to the summer-camp atmosphere. “There is a humanness in this project,” the jury commented. “It is design at its best when you can solve two or three problems and develop two or three poetic ideas while, for the most part, making it in one move.”
Photo © Heffoto, Inc.

Merit Awards

Forest Hills Fine Arts Center, Grand Rapids, Mich., by Holabird & Root LLC and Integrated Architecture
The design for this community theater breaks the space into three distinct areas, creating an intimate experience for 200 or a full house of 1,200, with exceptional sight lines and direct access to the stage for each audience member. Transparent balcony and box fronts give a feeling of floating in space. Walls of curved wood panels allow the audience to imagine that they are inside a musical instrument. With stunning use of materials, light, and massing, the architects completed the facility on a modest construction budget and included many sustainable design features. “The architect was able to create pleasant spaces with a fairly low budget using modern and contemporary materials,” the jury remarked.
Photo © John J. Korom Photography/Mark Thomas Productions.

Urban Infill 01, Milwaukee, by Johnsen Schmaling Architects
The architects designed this affordable housing prototype for narrow urban-infill sites. The first built prototype, configured as a duplex, sits on a 30-foot-wide lot in a neighborhood that has experienced three decades of urban decay. Working within a limited budget, the design consists of a simple bar building made up of three interlocking components: a cedar-clad box for the entry and vertical circulation, a stucco box that was assembled from standardized wall panels and allows for 1,900 square feet of living space, and a concrete veneer wall that peels away from the house and transforms into a freestanding, perforated garden wall. “The architect clearly embraced the effort of designing a contemporary building into an existing fabric in a sensitive way,” the jury said. “It has the future written all over it.”
Photo © Johnsen Schmaling Architects.

Brady Street Bus Shelter, Milwaukee, by La Dallman Architects Inc.
A neighborhood business group commissioned this project to transform a series of neglected urban spaces. The architect’s design reflects an intelligent use of structural elements and detailing that bring a quiet dignity to moments spent waiting. The bus shelter incorporates a concrete platform, stone walls shaped into benches, large steel-sash glass panels to provide a wind block, and a butterfly roof that drains rainwater into a concrete basin. “Clearly a labor of love, it’s one of those powerhouse projects that has both macro urban effect and micro architectural detail finishing effects,” said the jury. “The shelter is a good example that demonstrates a project does not have to be large to be strong in design and execution.”
Photo © La Dallman Architects Inc.

Special Recognition

318 North Water Street|Hanson Dodge, Milwaukee, by Eppstein Uhen Architects Inc.
This formidable project involved the rehabilitation of a 48,000-square-foot former antiques warehouse into a multi-tenant mixed-use building, with retail on the first floor and offices on the upper three floors. The owners wanted the design solution both to respect the building’s historic character and express the creative bent of their enterprises. Each design decision built upon the strength and drama discovered within this long-neglected warehouse. “This is a good example of a project in an existing urban fabric. The design was restrained, but aggressive,” the jury said. “It appears that it can be continually rehabbed based on the infrastructure adaptations, which make it still possible for the building to find its uses. These are important projects for the future.”
Photo © Tricia Shay Photography & Erol Reyel.

Steeple Restoration of Saint Raphael Cathedral, Madison, by Facility Engineering Inc.
Saint Raphael Cathedral’s tower and spire have been Madison landmarks since 1885. To rehabilitate the steeple, the architects conducted extensive research and presented design solutions for the structure, masonry, ornamental metals, roofing, fenestration, clocks and bells, lighting, and lightning protection. The Diocese of Madison proceeded with complete replacement of the spire structure. Unfortunately, after the jury recognized the project, a fire in March laid waste to much of the historic church; but the restored steeple remains standing. “One of the interesting aspects in the documentation for this project is the level of investigation that the architect had to undertake in order to understand the different components and how they would have to be detailed,” the jury noted.
Photo © Facility Engineering Inc./J.H Findorff & Son.

Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, Cedarburg, Wis., by The Kubala Washatko Architects Inc.
The architects designed the center to preserve the natural sanctuary of the site and educate the public about sustainability and the natural world. The 39,000-square-foot facility on 185 acres along the shores of Lake Michigan is one of the most environmentally sensitive buildings in the nation. The building’s design helps create a flywheel effect to keep it cool in summer and warm in winter. A geothermal heat pump provides supplemental heating and cooling. The building, with its expansive outdoor porches, creates a welcoming place for visitors to gather and view the woods and the lake beyond. “The project shows some nice overall massing and references to rural structures, which was immediately attractive,” the jury said. “We also felt that the goals of green building technologies were well documented.”
Photo © Heffoto, Inc.

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