The formal strategy for both site massing and building typology utilizes the concept of ‘commons’ for organization and circulation. The formal development has been applied to massing and site design - the different housing types are distributed around a central court creating both a distinct separation and common amenity.
Emerging Professionals Design Competition
Hosted by AIA Milwaukee, the annual Emerging Professionals Design Competition encourages AIA Wisconsin Students, Emerging Professionals, and Architects licensed up to 10 years to submit possible project solutions to real urban design challenges facing the City of Milwaukee.
This year’s competition site was situated on a 2.66-acre site on the bank of the Milwaukee River on the Lower East Side, on the edge of the Historic Brady Street District and between larger scale developments along the river front. This lends itself to the described program intended to serve a growing housing need in the city at large.
Teams were encouraged to develop their own program as part of their entry, with objectives including creating a clearly defined public and private outdoor space, 1:1 parking, a Shared Residential Amenities Building, townhome condominiums, apartments, and to develop an identity and residential branding for the proposed complex. Extra consideration was given to submissions that utilized principles from the AIA Framework for Design Excellence.
Submissions featured a variety of creative and innovative approaches. Five Milwaukee-local jurors blind judged the submissions from AIA Wisconsin members across the state, and three projects were named 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners with a cash prize awarded, courtesy of the competition sponsor, Wangard Partners.
Thank you to our 2024 Design Competition Jury!
2024 JURY
This year’s judges represent a wide range of constituencies, including professional and community representatives. We are deeply grateful for their time and support of this competition and our emerging professional participants.
- Stewart Wangard – Executive Chairman, Wangard Partners, Site Owner & Sponsor
- Alyssa Remington – Economic Development Specialist, City of Milwaukee Department of City Development
- Michael Sander – Executive Director, Brady Street BID #11
- Larry Kilmer – Deputy Director, City of Madison Community Development Authority & Professor of Urban Planning, UW-Milwaukee School of Architecture & Urban Planning
- Wesley Churchill, AIA – Project Architect, HGA & Young Architect Representative, AIA Wisconsin
And our 2024 Design Competition Committee!
And thank you to the AIA Milwaukee Emerging Professionals Design Competition Committee Members responsible for organizing the competition:
- Emily Neal, Assoc. AIA
- Elena Sellner, Assoc. AIA
Celebrate 70 Years of WAF!
This year, the Wisconsin Architects Foundation (WAF) is celebrating its 70th anniversary. Donations made during the Design Awards Gala will help support WAF’s mission and provide funds for future scholarship, grant, and educational opportunities that directly impact the future of architecture in Wisconsin. Consider making a $70 donation in honor of 70 years!
Slash
Tucked prominently at its west end, Slash caps Brady Street with a vibrant destination for neighborhood events, community association, local commerce, varied recreation, and connected living. Programmatically, the building subverts the traditional model of walled-off private amenities, enthusiastically bringing the surrounding community into what were traditionally exclusionary spaces.
Garbarnia
Garbarnia is designed to be economically constructed with durable materials to create a built environment that won't be a burden to future generations. Units and building forms are simplified and right sized, considering function and form in tandem to minimize material waste and construction costs.