Private to Public - In 2021, the Near West Side Partners, a non-profit organization working to make the Near West Side of Milwaukee a great place to live, work, play and stay, hosted a summit that engaged community stakeholders to discuss opportunities to accelerate neighborhood revitalization and community health. The result - a strong desire for more green space promoting health, gathering, and the arts. Milwaukee's Near West Side (NWS) neighborhood has been home to Harley-Davidson since 1903. Inspired by the summit, Harley-Davidson transferred 4 acres of underutilized parking lot to the Harley-Davidson Foundation (HDF) to create a public park. The park's design, a collaboration between renowned international designers and local experts, transformed a lifeless surface parking lot into a vibrant civic landscape. The result is a park that honors its historical roots while offering flexible, soulful spaces for community connection, nature, and individual experiences.

 

Community Hub - At the heart of the park lies "The Hub," a 260-foot diameter, theater-in-the-round event space seamlessly sculpted into the landscape. Framed by the historic Harley-Davidson headquarters on one side embraced by layers of diverse gathering, market, reflection, and play spaces on the other. "The Hub" serves as a dynamic focal point for community activity. Its circling terraces offer 360- degree views of performance and events, lined with custom tiered timber benches, boulder outcroppings, and lush native plantings. Designed with intention, the terraces themselves become part of the theater, carefully scaled to accommodate rallies, markets and festivals - all fully accessible for pedestrians and equipment. In less than a year, "The Hub" has already hosted dozens of community events, proving its value as a flexible and vibrant cultural gathering space.

 

Sustainable SITE - The project rallied around the opportunity to sustainably revitalize Milwaukee's urban landscape by committing to SITES™ certification and the park is positioned to be one of Wisconsin's first few SITES™ certified projects. While sustainable landscape moves are integrated throughout, including 120 native plant species and locally sourced low impact materials, it is the parks dynamic green infrastructure system of bioswales, permeable pavers, and underground stormwater storage that have far reaching impacts, highlighted by:

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• Removal of 1.9-acres of paved impervious surface from the Menomonee River and Lake Michigan watersheds.

• Capturing over 225,000 gallons of stormwater onsite - cutting peak flow into to the aging combined sewer system by over 80% for the 6Qlh - 95'h percentile rain events and reducing hazardous neighborhood flooding.

• Creation of visible and engaging stormwater design features to educate and inspire the public while improving water quality in the region.

 

Local Love - The park's design is a true reflection of community engagement and local pride, with intricate custom details woven throughout. Many of its most striking features were shaped through intentional collaboration with the community, including:

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• Paver Mosaics-A system of210 permeable brick paver panels brings both function and creativity to "The Hub''. defining each ring with programmable order while adding playful whimsey through 10 unique color and pattern blends. Adding a special local touch, 24 of these panels were designed by elementary and art school students, drawing inspiration from Milwaukee's culture. These student-created mosaics are thoughtfully placed on axis, serving as welcome markers at each terrace level.

• Serenity Garden - The garden was born from an inspiring and educational collaboration with the Forest County Potawatomi, the native people of this land. Through a series of workshops, the design team engaged in conversations and storytelling with community leaders, gaining a deeper understanding of their culture and relationship to the land. Guided by this shared vision, the team created a humble and welcoming space for reflection - shaped in the form of the medicine wheel, centered around an offering stone, and surrounded by sacred plant species.

• Little Legends Playground - The project partnered with a local custom nature-based playground design-builder and engaged directly with the community by visiting the neighborhood school. There, the team listened to children share what excites and comforts them in a play space, ensuring their voices helped shape the final design.

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Award Worthiness & Landscape Architect's Role - Davidson Park is more than 4-acres of new public space - it introduces dynamic layers of programming, flexibility, and sustainability unlike anything else in the community. While conceptual design was led by a world-renowned studio, the Landscape Architect played a key role from the start as a design team member, advocating for public access, safety, and environmental stewardship. Following the concept phase, the local full-service A&E firm took the lead on design, documentation, and implementation, with the Landscape Architect continuing to serve in several pivotal roles, including:

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• Collaborative design leadership of in-house team consisting of engineers, architects, lighting designers, and sustainability specialists.

• Fostering client relationships with many stakeholder groups.

• Custom detailing and material selection in support of project design solution.

• Construction administration and oversight including numerous design/detail adaptations due to field conditions.

• Continued engagement with project partners - furthering project success and community impact.