Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin

Project of the Year: Cultural/Performing Arts

Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin in Milwaukee is a youth-oriented science and technology museum.

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The 120,000-sq.-ft. building is clad in white, high-density resin panels and has two volumes, the rectangular Technology Building and cylindrical Aquatarium.

Technology houses exhibits and laboratories where visitors can explore electronics, robotics, mechanical innovations and array of energy sources. It includes a vaulted promenade with sligding glass walls that open to the lake and overlooks a 450-ft.-long public boat landing.

The Aquatarium has a stepped-down amphitheater to the water and houses interactive displays about freshwater sources, digital theater, two aquariums and classroom space.

A glass breezeway connects the two. A glassy gallery along the south wall provides a zone of circulation and an area for the public to experience the facility and its connection to the water.

In addition to calling attention to the water, Discovery World also focuses on technological advances.

It is designed with the latest wireless technology. A wireless-friendly events room perched atop the East Wing includes a roof terrace, providing a 360-degree, outside view of the lake and city.

The site is also the home of Wisconsin's flagship and floating classroom, the S/V Denis Sullivan, a replica of the 19th-Century schooners that once populated the Great Lakes. A replica of a famed schooner, The Challenge, will float down from the East Wing's ceiling and can be boarded from the second level.

A double-wide grand staircase splits to go around the replica of The Challenge.

Almost-Stillborn Project

The project nearly died several times, and the original design and location were heavily debated.

The original plan was to a Pier Wisconsin building with the Discovery World Museum, and the initial design was considered by many to be too imposing with its sloping tent-like form.

Other design issues arose over public access, parking and incoherent reconfiguration of the site at the end of Municipal Pier.

The project also had funding challenges, environmental issues and unstable soils. Construction the building over water had the challenges of Lake Michigan's rough waters, as well as multiple regulatory agencies.

The water table had to be lowered for the entire footprint of the building to install the basement and foundations.

The water was directly adjacent to the new concrete walls with only a 1/2-in. of steel sheet piling holding back Lake Michigan on the other side. The water table is more than 10 ft. above the lowest portion of the basement where the aquariums are built.

Another issue was constructing the concrete east structure because it is 75 percent over the lake.

Greening the Lake

A number of sustainable elements were included in the project.

For instance, an innovative system will intake cold lake water, cool the building and return the water to the lake with a net change in the inner harbor of less than 1 degree F. Air conditioning loads are reduced through the use of a "cool roof" that uses reflective white roofing to reflect solar heat gain.

The 200-car underground parking garage is covered with a green roof, featuring soil, plants and water-retaining sub-structure that holds rain, rather than allowing it to run off an impervious surface.

Another unique element is an ornate helical staircase that spans 22 ft. between the two floors of Discovery World.

The stair's helical design, like that of a DNA strand, reflects Pier Wisconsin's emphasis on science and discovery.

Another fabricating challenge was the halo-shaped support steel for the sunshades on the Aquatarium's Observation Deck.

Jury Comments: "We definitely want to visit! The interior is doing and so are some elements of the exterior. For a civic project, it's successful. I integrates with the lake successfully. It was not easy to do this because it was on the lake and a lot of folks were involved. There are a lot of things to keep kids' interest. However, when you look at it from a distance, it looks cheap."

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