MILWAUKEE, WI

This base-building was developed for a sophomore level interior architecture design studio at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. Sited in Milwaukee’s Third Ward Neighborhood, it was intended to host an office workshare collaborative hinging on the premise of Design Thinking and its application beyond the traditional allied disciplines in design. The building was designed to present a series of spatial and programmatic challenges to students. As an atrium building, the central open volume inherently creates collaborative connectivity both in plan and section while also posing visual and acoustical challenges for focused work. Additionally, the program required that the ground floor level be developed as a cafe to generate revenue for offsetting overall building costs and introducing the passerby to facility offerings.