Project Overview
The Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin is the new home of the Milwaukee Public Museum and a major cultural destination in Milwaukee. The approximately 200,000-square-foot facility will house more than four million items across its scientific, historical, and cultural collections.
The building structure features self-supporting precast concrete exterior wall panels, along with areas of exterior cold-formed steel wall and soffit stud framing. The exterior façade is inspired by Wisconsin’s natural landscape, specifically the layered rock formations at Mill Bluff State Park near Camp Douglas. Additional influences include the three Milwaukee rivers and the region’s historic Cream City brick, resulting in a textured, site-specific exterior expression.
Above the Commons area at the center of the building is a three-story circular lightwell that extends to the roof and skylight. This lightwell is constructed using cold-formed steel framing that is cantilevered out and supported at each level. This central feature brings natural daylight into the building’s interior and serves as a key architectural and experiential element that connects multiple levels of the museum.
raSmith provided cold-formed steel engineering services for both the exterior wall framing and the interior framing associated with the central lightwell.
Project Gallery
