1. INNOVATION
PARK
MRMCMILWAUKEE COUNTY
RESEARCH PARK
IN
PA
UKEE COU
As the various issues pertaining to
sustainability become increasingly
urgent, it is vital that a precedent is
established in SE Wisconsin.
“The Green” was designed to ad-
dress several concerns facing the
region. Sprawl mitigation, shorter
commutes that decrease traffic con-
gestion, walkability, safe streets,
transit options, connectivity, pro-
tection of natural environment, af-
fordable housing, senior living, and
economic growth are all carefully
considered as chief components of
a development that maximizes real
estate value and positively impacts
future land development patterns.
2. Constraints include WI-45 and of-
framp, Watertown-Plank Road, and
the rerouting of Swan Blvd. The Wis-
consin Lutheran College Athletic
Complex borders on the north, yet
provides a significant amenity as well.
Underwood Parkway (above) to the
immediate west is a sensitive natural
environment that will provide tre-
mendous value as well, provided that
its proximity is considered carefully.
The importance of transforming the
current environment (pictured at left
and above) into a vibrant, value-cre-
ating urban center cannot be over-
stated. The opportunity cost of do-
ing otherwise would be significant.
The Site
At left: Current site conditions
Top right: Underwood Parkway
Above: Current building footprint
3. Show the process of how it was
designed
1) The property; 2) Existing roads: 3)
Sensitive green area; 4) Swan Blvd
acts as both challenge and opportu-
nity; 5) Entrances added to increase
visibility; 6) Strong n/e and e/w axes
needed; 7) Business district created to
buffer Swan Blvd.; 8) Retail along both
axes (mixed-use with residences); 9)
Two anchors at top and bottom; 10)
Single-use residential added on west,
in order to transition to natural set-
ting; 11) Proposed street network.
Anatomy of a design
5. Theimportanceofrespectingthepub-
lic realm cannot be overemphasized.
A top priority of The Green’s design
is to provide several places that are
strictly for people, like the monument
garden pictured above, center, and
at right on site plan (opposite page).
Most of the parking in the project
is either underground or contained
within structures that are entered
inconspicuously, mid-block, as
shown on right side of above image.
The Green employs a street hierar-
chy that features wider urban streets
for main thoroughfares and nar-
rower widths for residential streets.
Both Swan Blvd. and the boulevard
that runs east-west have 10 ft.-wide
landscaped medians to mitigate
vehicle speed.With Swan as the ex-
ception, every street has one 10-
foot traffic lane in each direction. All
streets have 8 ft.-deep parking bays.
Streets are designed with bends form-
ing 90 degree angles at intersections,
which creates focal points and termi-
nated vistas that enhance orientation.
The project also demonstrates an
harmonious mix of contemporary
and traditional architectural strate-
gies. Regardless of ”style” or type, it is
important that buildings harmonize
with each other and their surround-
ings. They should also add to, and not
detract from, the human experience.
6. Top left: Park Crescent; Left: Mixed-Use; Top
Right and above: Business District on Swan
Blvd. looking north then south; Below: Street
sections E/W on “The Boulevard” and at bot-
tom N/S on Swan Blvd.
The creation of a park shaped by the
crescent opens up the development
to views in more than one direction.
This effect is intended to draw in the
passer-by while simultaneously calm-
ing traffic on Watertown-Plank Rd.
The thoroughfare leading to the rear
of the development and the Athletic
Complex is redirected to wrap around
a sculpture and the entrance to the
hotel (see below), making it less of an
expressway and more of an avenue
integral to the success of the project.
The importance of mixing
uses is illustrated at left.
In order to work toward
true sustainability, it is es-
sential that dependence
upon automobile travel is
reduced. Mixed-Use De-
velopment allows more
people to do more activi-
ties without the car, and
live and work closer to
the material necessities
of life. Increased walking
and reduced auto emis-
sions are significant con-
tributors to public health.
Instead of an expressway, with ve-
hicles descending the ramp south-
bound at high speeds, Swan Blvd. is
transformed into a business district
with two signaled intersections, and
with a central landscaped median
andwidersidewalks,intendedto entice
and enhance pedestrian activity. The
Green takes on the role of urban cen-
ter, a second “downtown” for Wau-
watosa, and chief location of prime
commercial, retail and residential real
estate value. Working, shopping and
living become one unified experience.
Mixed-Use Development
7. The east-west axis is designed
as a second “boulevard” of re-
tail and commercial space. The
illustrations demonstrate both
the importance and methods
of terminating the vista, one
with structure and the other
with a monument. By luring
people to venture further into
the property, more pedestrian
activity yields a more vibrant
and safer street life, and greater
success for the retail establish-
ments within the development.
It is important that significant
works of architecture and pub-
lic art are placed in these vistas.
Below: Street sections reveal a diversity of building types and an average building height of 5 storeys.
8. The Green has as its centerpiece a
pedestrian mall and retail street (pic-
tured above and right). The retail
destinations and public spaces are
within easy walking distance of any
location within the project. The Mall
is also clearly visible through the eye
of the crescent…no need for bill-
boards or other signage. The project
is designed to provide a multi-use
benefit for permanent residents as
well as serve as a destination for the
over one million annual visitors to the
Milwaukee Regional Medical
Center and County Grounds region.
The single- and multi-fam-
ily residences (pictured
below) employ a more tra-
ditional design, intended
to provide a subtle transi-
tion between the natural,
undeveloped condition of
Underwood Parkway and
the high-density, commer-
cial center of The Green.
In order to create real
places that are alive, it is
vital that our buildings re-
flect life, and mirror those
who encounter them.
9. Update
The PSC commissioners said calls from the
community to spend more money to bury
the lines were not compelling enough for
the agency to break from its precedent that
favors less expensive overhead power lines.
Burying all the lines would have added at
least $35 mllion to the project pricetag.
Commissioner Nowak said she was con-
cerned that the commission not break
from its past practice, which has found that
“underground construction is not a viable
transmission option unless engineering
considerations require it or circumstances
leavenootherreasonableoptionavailable.”
“The fact that Wisconsin has over 11,000
miles of transmission lines and under 1% of
those lines are underground demonstrates
the rarity in which the decision to under-
ground is made,” she said.
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/busi-
ness/194282481.html
State energy regulators on Friday (March
1) rejected proposals from civic leaders and
others in Wauwatosa to bury two proposed
transmission lines.
The state Public Service Commission ap-
proved a $34 million project that includes
a new We Energies substation as well as
new transmission lines needed to serve the
Milwaukee Regional Medical Center and ex-
panding business development in the area.
For the transmission line portion of the
project, the PSC approved the least ex-
pensive options...Burying large stretches
of the relatively short lines was advocated
by a variety of groups, including the cities
of Wauwatosa and Milwaukee, Milwau-
kee County, the University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Lutheran College,
Milwaukee Montessori School, St. Therese
Church, the chairman of We Energies and
residents along Underwood Creek Parkway.
The case generated considerable contro-
versy and publicity in recent years, as Wau-
watosa grappled with where to put the line-
sand civic and community leaders worked
to forge a consensus that they could present
to the PSC.
“It’s a very regrettable decision and ex-
tremely short sighted,” said Ald. Dennis Mc-
Bride of Wauwtosa. “We’re in an era where
everybody’s talking about job creation and
Wauwatosa is a primary job creator for the
Milwaukee region right now,” he said, refer-
ring to development by UW-Milwaukee, the
Milwaukee County Research Park and the
medical center. “All those areas are going
to be affected by overhead power lines and
it’s going to have a negative impact on our
ability to create the kind of family-support-
ing jobs that everyone likes to talk about.”
As of March, 2013, any chance of the
project as designed coming to frui-
tion is highly remote. From Milwau-
kee Journal Sentinel, March 2, 2013:
10. The project, at present an unrealis-
tic possibility due to the scheduled
installation of the overhead, high-
voltage wires, was nevertheless in-
tended to become an additional town
center for Wauwatosa--a place that
would have been a destination for
the workers at the Research Park, the
planned Innovation Campus, and the
MRMC, as well as the more than 1 mil-
lion that visit the region annually and
the residents of Milwaukee County.
The project, called The Green, dem-
onstrates several benefits of the
New Urbanism, with, according to
the Charter of The New Urbanism,
special attention being given to:
“...the reconfiguration of sprawling sub-
urbs into communities of real neighbor-
hoods and diverse districts, (and) the
conservation of natural environments.”
Theprojectisalsoexemplaryduetothe
additionaladherencetothefollowing:
“Neighborhoods should be diverse in use
and population; communities should be
designed for the pedestrian and transit as
well as the car; cities and towns should be
shaped by physically defined and univer-
sally accessible public spaces and com-
munity institutions; urban places should
be framed by architecture and landscape
design that celebrate local history, cli-
mate, ecology, and building practice.”
http://www.cnu.org/charter
Conclusion
The practice of real estate develop-
ment, although having trended to-
ward the principles of New Urban-
ism in recent years, will continue to
proliferate somewhat the tendency
to consider buildings as isolated,
independent objects and residen-
tial, retail, commercial and indusrial
uses as separate, segregated zones.
The Green is a masters thesis proj-
ect designed to portray real estate
development, urban planning, and
architecture as three interrelated
fields that, when considered har-
moniously, become integral to
the achievement of wholeness.
Whatever the future of the project,
it may hopefully serve as a reminder
of the dangers involved in allow-
ing an independent agency to make
land-use decisions without the judi-
cious consideration of “citizen-based
participatory planning and design.”
According to The Smart Growth
Manual by Duany et al., “local plan-
ning suffers because governance
rarely operates at the scale of
the neighborhood or the block.”
