The projects mounted in the Eisner’s second-levelgallery also pay tribute to the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Theexhibit acknowledges the organization’s 150 years of service throughout thecountry. AIA members provide community organization, functional buildings forliving and working, and cultural comfort with an eye toward design excellence.This work not only enriches the nation’s environments, but also creates the artfeatured in this exhibit.
To this end the Eisner presents seven three-dimensionalscale models built to illustrate proposals for uncompleted city developments.One example details Kahler Slater’s design for a bridge to connect cityneighborhoods at the North Avenue Dam, a sculpted wood landscape called The Urban Conduit. These floor modelsthen become integrated into their selected settings through the use of digitalphotography, which is incorporated into complementary descriptive pictures andexplanatory text that line the gallery’s walls. All these images focusattention on the AIA ideals that require a keen technical interest in urbanplanning and architecture.
A small auxiliary exhibit that consists of severalinformational panels curated by Milwaukee AIA members offers more intriguingdesigns. This display begins with photographs showcasing completed Milwaukee architecturefrom the pastincluding the Polish flat, Frank Lloyd Wright’s residentialdesigns and Henry P. Plunkett’s 1933 Home Show winner. Plunkett’s surprisinglymodern home, painted pink and white, offered a classic contribution to Milwaukee thatconceptualized the timeless International Style prevalent in the ’30s.
John Randal McDonald’s Japanese Snow Flower depictsaresidential house from 1940s Racine.There’s also a design that captured the first Wisconsin National AIA HousingDesign Award for Johnsen Schmaling Architects in 2005. The firm’s Urban Infill 01 home provides containedbut contemporary living constructed on a typical 30-foot-wide city lot.
Milwaukee’sunseen architecture proves to be interesting, though it is the existingarchitecture accomplished by these diverse local firms that provides invaluableinsight into the city’s urban culture and development. Exhibiting thesesuccessful buildings shows that the aesthetic contributions of architecturewill advance society’s needs for a sustainable and affordable future.
