urban plaza
MILWAUKEE, WI
The Urban Plaza converts an unsafe underbridge area into a civic gathering space for film festivals, regattas, and other river events. The position of the Urban Plaza within the existing viaduct presented an unusual challenge due to the lack of natural daylight for plant growth. Accordingly, this area could not be defined through landscape design in the conventional sense; rather, concrete benches are set amidst a moonscape of gravel and seating boulders. The benches provide a respite for pedestrians and bicyclists as they make their way across the Marsupial Bridge, and by night the benches are lit from within, transforming the Plaza into a beacon for the neighborhood. This strategy challenges the traditional notion of public space as a “town square,” or “village green,” and provides a site-specific program for the underbridge zone.
Wildspace Dance Company, Artistic Director Debra Loewen, has choreographed and performed an original dance for the space, filmed by Spirit of Space.