The renovation of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Student Union aimed to revitalize the existing Brutalist structure built in phases between the 1950s and 1980s. With a budget of $40M, the renovation focused on admitting daylight and views into windowless areas, improving wayfinding, creating new student spaces, and updating the mechanical systems. The design incorporated student feedback, emphasizing natural light, additional study and social areas, and the inclusion of Gender-Inclusive restrooms. The project chose to retain and embrace the original Brutalist elements while introducing colorful Mid-Century Modern furnishings and blond wood paneling to enhance the building’s aesthetics and functionality. 

Key solutions included creating new windows by removing concrete and brick panels, improving interior wayfinding with a new straight circulation spine, and transforming a former textbook storeroom into a central student resource center. Lounges previously repurposed for offices were restored for student use, and the circulation spines were furnished with comfortable seating. Gender-Inclusive restrooms were introduced through a variance from the 2015 IBC, making them the first approved in Wisconsin. Additionally, the Art Gallery was relocated to a more prominent position, allowing daylight into the atrium. This project demonstrated that mid-century Brutalist buildings could be rejuvenated affordably while preserving their architectural integrity.

 “The design elegantly balances the building’s more brutalist concrete structure with tactical and impactful transformations. This dialogue selectively improves upon the existing building, without making its past disappear. But by far the most consequential aspect of this project was not tearing down the massive building, but reusing it and revitalizing it, which is economically as well as ecologically inventive.”

Paul Lewis, FAIA (2024 Design Awards Juror)

Visitors are encouraged to take the daylight-filled central stair as well as the east and west stairways to the building’s upper floors where a range of study spaces, hybrid technology equipped and multi-disciplinary classrooms, and state-of-the-art business resources and meeting rooms are available to both individuals and groups throughout the building. Staff and faculty offices are intentionally interwoven with classrooms on all floors to provide enhanced opportunities for collaboration between students and faculty. In the same approach, an executive boardroom is strategically placed to provide access and visibility to visitors, becoming an active part of the building circulation and social spaces. An innovative lab and pitch space prepares students for real-world business scenarios by simulating interviews, pitches, and presentations to faculty and industry partners. Additional specialized spaces to support business education include an executive education suite that serves the Graduate School of Management, executive education programming, and department chairs; an 82-seat tiered classroom; a behavioral lab classroom; and dedicated collaboration classrooms to bring students together from across programs for excellence in interdisciplinary business courses and events.