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Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin is Milwaukee's exciting youth-oriented science, technology and freshwater resources museum. The project grew out of an architectural competition won with a design developed by HGA architect Jim Shields. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan in downtown Milwaukee, the sustainably designed, 120,000 SF building is a light and luminous presence, clad in white high-density resin panels and composed of two volumes.

  • A rectangular Technology Building, which houses exhibits and labs where visitors can explore electronics, robotics, mechanical innovations and a wide array of energy sources.

  • A cylindrical Aquatarium, housing interactive displays about freshwater resources, a digital theater, two aquariums, and classroom space. A wireless-friendly events room perched atop this structure includes a roof terrace, providing a 360-degree view of both the lake and the city.

  • A see-through, glass breezeway connects the Technology Building to the Aquatarium.
There has been major emphasis on the design of public open spaces both inside and outside the museum. The design includes a glassy gallery along the south wall which provides a zone of circulation and an area for the public to experience the facility and its connection to the water, a vaulted promenade with sliding glass walls that open to the lake, a 450 foot long public boat landing, an amphitheater stepped down to the water and a public boardwalk. It also includes a pier for Wisconsin's official flagship and floating classroom, the S/V Denis Sullivan, a replica of the 19th-century schooners that once populated the Great Lakes. Followed LEED Gold Guidelines.

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