Doors Open

The view from the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower was really stunning more so than the US Bank Building.  I felt a bigger connection to the clock tower probably because on my route to school every day since freshman year I have past this clock and never really noticed how immensely huge the building is.  Being able to go inside and up to the observation deck proved a real treat.  I had no idea that the roof was a green roof and it was really cool to learn about that.  The view was the most spectacular though I could see almost to Racine where I live while looking out of the south windows.

Pabst Mansion was probably the most inspiring place I went.  Steph, Maddie, and I went to that one together and we were all profoundly effected by the history behind this amazing historical monument.  We only got to tour the basement but we learned that each room had its own thermostat specifically to regulate each individual room.  The most profound feature of this plot of land was for me the part that was sold.  When you go to the mansion the front of it is spectacular and the interior (that we could see) was just as beautiful and intricate as the outside, but the back of the mansion was were I became affected.  No farther than four feet away from the back of the mansion is a fence surrounding an ugly parking lot for the channel 12 news building.  The chain link fence has barbed wire along the top and the parking lot was practically deserted when we were there.  We learned about the carriage house that used to sit upon that land and the servant quarters as well.  Pabst has the original terracotta shingles to the carriage house before it was torn down so if they could receive the land back they could restore the carriage house!  I really wish they could get the land back, it would be a nice addition to preserving Milwaukee's history.

Public/Private

We traversed the trail along the river,care free and the best of friends.  A beautiful, old tree had once fallen right into the river, yet somehow still lived branching its way back up.  I'm sorry to say that things have changed, our paths once crossed but we are never to travel together.

Sheena Hang: GPS Drawing (Group Photos)

All of these images were interesting to us during our GPS Trip!! 

Public/Private

A couple of years ago I got in a car crash merging onto 43 south. I got hit from the passenger side, and thankfully there was no passenger, as the whole front and right side of my car was smashed in. Neither I or the other driver were hurt. Whenever I turn onto 43 south from North Ave, I still think about that night and how all of the other uncountable numbers of people have taken the same path with better results, probably never knowing about the accident that night. When you're in a car accident time stops. You don't know what's happening or what has happened until you step out of your car and realize you're still all there, at which point you promptly freak the hell out, for lack of a better phrase.

DOORS OPEN - DAKOTA WHITEHOUSE

My first experience was at the Milwaukee Public Library. In the library I discovered “The Oriental Room”.  Once “The Chinese Room”, it displayed a variety of different figurative sculptures and an ornate mosaic floor of a dragon. As stated in “Wanderlust”, the environment dictated my mindset, and therefore my physical passage through – a room of collected knowledge, wood finished in dark stain, hundreds of pounds of books. The room inspired me to be careful and quiet in my observation, however, the instinctive integrity I tied to the room was quickly subverted by its manner of display of Asian artifacts and translated imagery, their authenticity entirely in question. The symbols on the floor did not even seem to resemble any Asian characters in their rigidity, and portrayed more of a mockery in their deformity, akin more to xenolinguistics. The Asian sculptures were all displayed in glass cases, and were dominated by the much weightier sculptures of un-caged American figures in the pursuit of knowledge, with firearms, and in pastime. The display of these objects and imagery, through its filtration, evoked more of savagery and ornamentation against the substantial amount of books on Milwaukee history.

My second experience was at the UWM Freshwater Studies Building. The facility was of cement/concrete/metal construction, maps of the Great Lakes decked the walls, and of patterns of algal growth, etc. As stated before, the environment affected my physical response. The facility was clearly built for experimentation and data collection, lighting and floor planning was designed for use not aesthetics, aside from the stripe of blue paint on the walls which went 6 or so feet up the wall which I assume was to represent their focus on fresh water. I instantly felt more comfortable to explore the room as I pleased. The presence of technology within the building was humbling; much of its purpose still remains unknown to me. The dock area was open, and allowed natural light to enter the room, the ceilings in this area were maybe 30 feet high and hung nets for sampling. The talks were highly informative, particularly one about the quagga and zebra mussels. The room extended far beyond its physical placement via its data, ranging from underwater cam’s, maps, and graphs of Lake Michigan’s ecology. 

Lauren Mattes: Personal/Public

Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's home in Scottsdale, Arizona:

My family ended up taking a lot of architecturally based vacations when my siblings and I were younger. I don't know why my parents decided that because I know for a fact that I didn't appreciate any of the things I saw but I wish I could go back there now. This was on a really long family vacation that took place in three or four different states across a month or so. I remember being in a theatre type area that had a piano in it. The tour guide asked if anyone could play and my parents quietly suggested my sister or me since we were taking lessons, but neither of us played anything. I also remember trying to ask my dad a lot of questions, but just bothering him instead. Architectural landmarks are a very familial thing now, because of my dad's profession and because of the times spent there.

Lauren Mattes: Places to Research

Site 1: Milwaukee Ale House, 233 N Water Street

I've been to and passed the Ale House many times. The food and ambience are enjoyable, and sitting out on the river for brunch is awesome. Just looking on their website told me the building's history. A saddlemaker, sailmaker, and the inventor of the Hula Hoop all inhabited this building at one time or another. It also says that this six-floor building is a historic landmark- I definitely wouldn't have ever known that.

Site 2: The City Center at 735 N Water Street

My dad (a self-employed architect) has worked a lot with the proprietor of this building. During one of the projects he was working on, I got to go up on the roof. Also, before the Gold's Gym was completed, I had a piece of art hanging on a plywood door for around a year (as seen in the Google maps screenshot). He wrote up a historical synopsis of the building for me (since the website doesn't have one yet):

735 N. Water was designed by Daniel Burnham in 1912 and finally built around 1917.  It was one of his last projects and the only one of his in Milwaukee.  Burnham was a very famous Chicago architect and was instrumental in the Chicago Exposition of 1893 (The White City).  He also coined the phrase: "Make no little plans, for they do not stir men's souls."

The building was originally designed for the First Bank of Wisconsin.  They eventually moved (1970 or so) to the lakefront tower that had borne their name until recently. 

The building is 16 stories, plus penthouse and is constructed of a steel and concrete structure and brick and stone exterior.  Over the years that Compass Properties has owned and managed the building (approx. 10 years), they have repaired the cornice along the top of the building, redone the Riverwalk and have upgraded the heating and cooling systems to receive a LEED Silver rating and a BOMA 360 rating (the first for a multi-tenant building in Milwaukee).

Mattes Architects became the "house" architect in 2005, when Compass was looking for a small firm to move fast and provide good customer service.

Lauren Mattes: Doors Open Milwaukee

I went to Turner Hall and the Pabst Theatre. I went to these places because I've seen many performances (musical, theatrical, etc) at both places and they're my favorite Milwaukee venues.

At Turner Hall, it was cool to learn about Milwaukee's rebellious past. I've always loved the look of Turner Hall, so it was nice to hear about the renovation and how they hope it never gets "finished!" It really has a certain charm, and I think updating everything would take away from it. I didn't know how many rallies and events had been held there, and that two fires occurred there. That helps to explain how some of the building looks, too. I was a little upset that we didn't get more of an in-depth tour, we just lingered for a moment in the ballroom. After that, my mom and I decided to leave, since that's the part I was the most interested in.

At the Pabst, I was so surprised that they were letting visitors roam wherever their hearts desired. I got to see everything! I have always wanted to know what it looks like to a performer, and I got just that. I saw the green room downstairs, the side stages, and the view from the stage itself. I can't imagine how it feels to look out into a full house. I've always been interested in set design, so it was great to see the set up of how the show is run behind the scenes. I climbed all the way to the top; I didn't know when I'd have the opportunity again, so I didn't want to let my very mild fear of heights hold me back! Also, when I was in grade school, we had all bought tickets to see A Christmas Carol. Upon entering the building, one of the teachers mentioned that the interior had been built so perfectly that they had to intentionally turn over one of the balusters on the main staircase so as not to challenge God's perfection. I have had more than one unforgettable experience here, so I was thrilled to have been able to explore it in this way.

elainajohann_Doors Open Milwaukee

 On the weekend of Doors Open Milwaukee,  I visited the Charles Allis Art Museum and the North Point Water Tower. While rummaging through these locations I thought of a part in Nato Thompson’s writing about Experimental Geography, In Two Directions Geography as Art, Art as Geography. The idea of: “we make the world and, in turn, the world makes us” (Thompson). How the people who interact with these buildings effect what makes the building.

In the Charles Allis Art Museum there were many remnants left from when the building was the house of Charles Allis and his wife, Sarah. What I found most interesting was the old phones that look as if they were used to contact the other rooms in the house. They are a gorgeous piece of history of this house. Seeing things such as this always make me think of what life was like when this was in use. How those people through time now have a connection with me just because I stood in the same place looking at the same thing as they did viewing the same item as them. Along with the other items in the house: old bathroom fixtures and stoves and the strange item in the bathroom, the Safety Phlare Pump. To us today these are just antiques, a memory of the people who the items once belonged to. The people who once lived in this 

 house made it what it is and as a result the house has an effect on the people who lived there. Today the building is used for a much different purpose. The people who move through this space created a new meaning for this place. It became the result of what people were changing it through time.

The North Point Water Tower has a very different feel to the Allis house. The people who have interacted with it make this building interesting. Because of the rusting on the stairs, I was unable to climb to the top of the tower, but there still was a stunning view from the inside. This water tower is out of use and the last time it was open to the public was in 2005. What I found very interesting were the writings on the inside of the walls. The first was a note when I first entered say, “KEEP OUT: PRIVATE.” It left me questioning if this was written by employees of this space for the purpose to keep people out or as humorous graffiti. In the surrounding walls there were numerous amounts of graffiti placed by people trying to put their mark on this building. Much of which were dated 2012 in permanent marker. One dated from 4/15/47.  These people have shaped this space by leaving their own personal mark, leaving this building to form from the many people who have stepped inside.