Thesis 2009
Image – Computer rendering of interior building entry
Thesis 2009 – Center for the Continuation of Sustainable Technology and Design
The thesis design project I chose was a very large adaptive reuse of an old hardware factory complex in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I grew up in Milwaukee and have always admired the industrial buildings that dot the cityscape. When I decided to begin this project in the Fall of 2008, the buildings in question were already slated for renovation and conversion to high end condominiums with retail on the first level. Pictured below is the complex of buildings.
Click to download my Thesis Research Monograph
Milwaukee is a wonderful historic city that conveys the spirit of the Midwest at its best. Full of historic and underutilized industrial buildings, the city has many opportunities for extensive redevelopment and reconnection. Unlike Detroit for example, Milwaukee still has an active core with unique urban neighborhoods in the peripheral. The project I chose for thesis was to enhance one of those neighborhoods, in particular the Third Ward, an industrial area that has become an emerging arts oriented district in the past forty years. The district is littered with cast iron industrial warehouses, which still lay vacant, but thankfully have not been torn down to make way for some gaudy crystal tower that would be very uncharacteristic of the city of Milwaukee.
A Museum of Sustainable Technology – A Sustainable Technology Research Center – A Natural Systems Experimental Exhibit and Living Machine
The project itself is an experiment to marry ideas of a net zero project with an adaptive reuse of over 400,000 sq ft of existing space. There are only so many hours in a day, and working constantly for 5 months I focused much of my efforts on design of sustainable systems, adaptive reuse of the existing buildings, and design of an additional 200,000 sq feet of exhibit spaces. The project is a natural environment meets built environment focus, with many features that attempt to restore biodiversity in an increasingly urban world.
To see the project photos on picasa click here