Landmark Milwaukee plaza to feature bamboo grove

The City of Milwaukee will soon add a landmark public plaza to Milwaukee’s Harbor entrance that features a mix of industrial design, native plantings and a touch of the exotic-- illuminated fiberglass benches scattered among a grove of bamboo trees. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett recently signed legislation to move forward with the winner of an international design competition for Erie Street Plaza in the Historic Third Ward.

Thirty-seven international firms responded to the design competition launched last August by Mayor Barrett to produce ideas for a public plaza that would link the Milwaukee Riverwalk with a lakefront walk. A jury of nationally-recognized architects, landscape architects and artists gathered community input and chose a proposal submitted by Stoss Landscape Urbanism (Boston), Vetter Denk Architects and GAS engineering from Milwaukee. The design proposes a ‘sustainable garden’ to keep stormwater on-site in a creative, attractive way.

“The new energy and excitement about Milwaukee has captured the attention of the international design community, as the tremendous response to this competition shows,” said Mayor Tom Barrett. “I am grateful to all of the firms that competed for the chance to create a unique Milwaukee landmark. Erie Street Plaza’s sustainable garden will add to Milwaukee’s ‘cool’ factor as it offers significant public access to our Riverwalk and Lakefront trail.”

Five finalist design firms were required to submit proposals that could be built in under a year and cost under $850,000. Erie Street Plaza will be paid through a tax incremental financing district that is funding up to $7 million of street and Riverwalk improvements along the north shore of the Milwaukee River. City investments in the Riverwalk have sparked a development boom along the Milwaukee River and into the neighborhoods of Beerline, Brewers Hill, Brady Street, Downtown, Historic Third Ward and Fifth Ward. Erie Street Plaza is expected to stimulate further development of the Third Ward near the World Festival grounds.

Proposals from all five finalists were on display during April/May, 2006 at the DAR Gallery of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture & Urban Planning.


Erie Street Plaza: A summary of the winning proposal

Stormwater, steam, marsh grass and bamboo, reflected and projected light all characterize this new civic place.

Wrapped by the infrastructural and geographical frames of wooden boardwalk and steel bulkhead, the plaza is articulated as a field of custom pre-cast pavers distributed so as to maximize variability and flexibility. The pavers are interspersed with planted islands of native marsh grasses, lawn and bamboo groves, arranged along a gradient from wet to dry; low to high, indigenous to exotic. It is a reflection of the surrounding neighborhood and amenities. The plaza’s interdeterminancy is accentuated by the erratic scattering of luminous fiberglass benches and seatwalls, which capture and reflect ambient light; their irregular placement allow for multiple and diverse social groupings or solitary retreats. The subtly folded groundplane directs stormwater to the low marsh and to six collection pits in the bamboo grove; here immersion heaters generate steam that amplify the vivacity and evergreen qualities of the bamboo and create a welcome respite from the cold winter winds.

RIVERWALK: The Milwaukee Riverwalk system is extended as wide pathways along the site’s northwestern and northeastern edges. Typical riverwalk detailing and materials are proposed: ipe plans and sleepers on a concrete slab with concrete frost walls all around.

CONCRETE UNIT PAVERS: The plaza field is articulated with pre-cast concrete pavers in a 5-piece set of custom forms.

PLANTINGS: Bamboo groves would be planted with two of the most vigorous cold-climate varieties available.

Low areas near the river would be planted with a combination of native grasses and dwarf lake irises.

STORMWATER ‘STEAM’ GENERATORS: Stormwater from the upper portion of the site will be collected in six concrete pits, which are covered with steel grates. An immersion heater unit inside the pit generates steam from the collected stormwater. To ensure that all pits are functioning equally, a pvc pipe connects each of the pits to evenly distribute collected water. The warmth and moisture generated by the steam pits would help keep the bamboo evergreen in Milwaukee’s climate.

BENCHES: There would be 8-10 benches in different shapes, custom-made of luminous fiberglass and interspersed among the planters and bamboo trees.

LIGHTING: Dramatic lighting is proposed for select locations. This includes at least uplighting in the immersion heater pits and in the bamboo grove. It is also proposed to light the inside of the luminous fiberglass benches that are nearest to the water’s edge.

BULKHEAD WALL MODIFICATIONS: Grade behind a portion of the existing bulkhead wall is lowered by a maximum of approximately two feet. A 4” wide vertical slit is cut into every other corrugation surface, allowing for river views and for occasional flooding at radically high water.

For more information, contact Andrea Rowe, Communications Manager, 414.286.8580.