1. +
Erie Street Plaza
STOSS Landscape Urbanism
Erie Street Park
STOSS Landscape Urbanism
Rafael Lopez
Stefie Gan
2. + Erie Street Plaza
Location
Located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin the
Plaza contains a Riverwalk and a
variety of vegetation, specifically a
marsh of Bamboo. Architects
designed a garden that would
consist of Bamboo and using a
specialized heating system, water
from the lake would be heated to
allow the Bamboo to grow during the
winter creating a warm oasis in the
middle of the frozen winter.
3. + Erie Street Plaza
Milwaukee Climate
Milwaukee consists of humid climate
and four seasons. The water of the
lake is a big reason for the drastic
temperature changes which was key
in the design of the plaza. Architects
and engineers had to build a system
that responded to any temperatures
increases or decreases over the
months.
The heating system for the marsh
turns off automatically in the spring
and fall seasons and when
temperatures drop below 50
degrees F the heating system turns
on converting the cold water into
steam.
5. + Erie Street Plaza
Materials
The plaza was a winning design from
STOSS Landscape Urbanism out of
37 international designs. It houses
social and environmental activity all
year long and with the design, the
plaza uses the climate to create a
micro climate (specifically a Bamboo
marsh, later change to Quaking
Aspen Trees instead) within the
Plaza itself.
Steam pits located beneath the Bamboo
collects run off water from the river and
uses heaters to cause the water to turn
into steam. The steam is essential in the
growth of the Bamboo and marsh
containing other types of vegetation
during the hard cold winters in the mid
west.
7. + Erie Street Park
Microclimate System
Low-energy
pump draws
groundwater up
from the river
below, and the
heaters heat up
the water to
150F and emit
hot steam
