In the heart of Milwaukee, a bold endeavor to transform a lifeless corporate parking lot into a
vibrant green space open to the public brought about Davidson Park - a 4-acre site centered around a flexible event setting enriched with expressive hardscape details, seamlessly integrated with gathering and play areas.

Private to Public
In 2021, Near West Side Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve that part of Milwaukee, engaged local stakeholders to discuss opportunities to accelerate neighborhood revitalization, which resulted in appeals for more environs that promote health, community connections, and the arts.

The Near West Side (NWS) has been home to Harley-Davidson since 1903. The iconic motorcycle manufacturer transferred four acres of underutilized parking lot to the Harley-Davidson Foundation to create a public park. Its design - a collaboration between internationally-renowned Heatherwick Studio of London, England, and the Milwaukee office of national multidisciplinary firm HGA - created a vital civic landscape that honors its historical roots while offering flexible, soulful spaces for group and individual experiences.

 
Focal Point
At the heart of the park lies The Hub, a theater-in-the-round event space sculpted into the landscape. Framed by the historic Harley-Davidson headquarters on one side and embraced by diverse gathering and play spaces on the other, The Hub serves as a dynamic mainstay for community activity. Its circling terraces offer 360-degree views of performances and events and were carefully scaled to accommodate rallies, markets, and festivals - all fully accessible to pedestrians and equipment. In just over a year, Davidson Park has already hosted dozens of events including Harley-Davidson rallies, dance performances, and community health and wellness gatherings.

Course of Action
The project came together around an ambitious collection of goals reflecting sustainability, programming flexibility, and cultural expression that propelled the creation of a park that is singular in the community, despite many challenges. Contributing to the inspiring design solutions that brought these goals to life are a host of unique and custom-crafted expressions of hardscape for paving, retaining, drainage, and other functions.

Environmental Wellbeing
One of the major goals was to positively transform and revitalize the environmental and community health of the site and NWS community. This was challenging because the site previously lacked strong stormwater management practices. As a result, the sloped, paved acreage contributed to regular downstream flooding of the combined storm and sewer service area during heavy rain events posing health and safety concerns. Though difficult, the project's dedication to meaningful sustainability is evidenced by its commitment to SITESTM certification and a collaboration with the Fresh Coast Protection Partnership that raised standards significantly above jurisdictional stormwater requirements. Enabling this is an artistic expression of water retention and pedestrian access carved into the land to create a low point at the center of The Hub that is thirteen feet below the preexisting grade. Ultimately, all park runoff - much of which is collected through a dynamic green infrastructure system of permeable pavers and native bioswales - drains toward a buried, 12,000-gallon-capacity storage chamber that only releases water during large rain events. As a result, the park alone captures over 225,000 gallons of stormwater annually onsite and cuts peak flow into to the aging municipal system by over 80 percent for the 60th-95th percentile rain events.

Aesthetic Utility
Another goal was to provide desirable and durable program spaces that reflect the needs of the community and are flexible across scales and potential use opportunities. Durable, flexible program and event landscapes tend to require significant paving. However, without care and craft, hard surfaces can be mundane and utilitarian. To address this, the project removed nearly two acres of paving from the preexisting parking lot and used a playful approach to replace it.
In The Hub, a system of 210 permeable brick paver panels provides order and whimsey through ten color and pattern blends. Functionally, each panel represents a motorcycle parking space for rallies, or two panels can be combined to hold a standard popup tent for other events. Concrete paving is given similar aesthetic consideration with a variety of exposed aggregate finishes. Heavily exposed bands define the edges of Union Plaza and Market Street to provide visual interest and add a level of spatial definition. To ensure the desired effects, the design team created a series of full-scale mockups to fine-tune the exposure variations.

Community Connectivity
To fulfill the purpose of the NWS summit and the park transformation, the Landscape Architects were to create a park that is welcoming, inspiring, and reflective of the neighborhood and people who use it. For over 20 years, the site had been a fenced-off, private parking lot separated from neighborhood use, so improving the perception of the site - even once it was a free and accessible public park - would be challenging. As such, the structure of the park is welcoming and accessible, with pedestrian connections from all sides. At all stairs and ramps, locally sourced Black Locust timber is used as a paving material invoking a rugged, natural, historical character that is engaging. This approach is echoed in the custom-designed, timber bench tops that sit within the sheet piles of The Hub.

Community-created artwork was also integrated into the park, as 24 of the paver panels were conceived by local students deriving inspiration from Milwaukee's culture. These mosaics are thoughtfully placed on a primary axis, serving as welcome markers at each terrace level. Finally, at the center of The Hub is the Foundation Stone, which celebrates the park's home in the NWS neighborhood.

Generational Impact
Honoring its historic roots while embracing innovation, the project was bestowed a 2024 Concrete Design Award by the Wisconsin Ready Mixed Concrete Association. The park is also positioned to be one of Wisconsin's first projects to receive a SITES certification. With a multilayered, environmentally aware infrastructure at its core and textured custom details throughout, Davidson Park highlights the vital role of landscape architecture in shaping the future of urban environments.