Two Greenfire projects received AIA Wisconsin Design Award honors. This year’s 2024 AIA Wisconsin Design Awards Gala was held at The Grain Exchange in Milwaukee, and two Greenfire projects were award recipients – Adventure Rock earned a 2024 Honor Award, and the Wgema Campus earned a 2024 Special Recognition Award.
Each Design Award nominee is evaluated using AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence – which considers the impact of environmental and social factors, as well as the design aesthetic of the project. AIA Wisconsin is the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects, which advocates on behalf of architects, and provides education and training.
Johnsen Schmaling Architects received the 2024 Honor Award on behalf of Adventure Rock. Noted that the project is a great example of adaptive reuse, Adventure Rock is a community climbing gym that transformed an industrial warehouse in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood. The repurpose of the space activated an obsolete building into a social community hub that engages the street both visually and actively.
Quorum Architects, Inc. accepted the 2024 Special Recognition Award for their work at the Wgema Campus – the redevelopment and renovation of a historic college campus in Milwaukee’s Concordia neighborhood on the Near West side. Now owned by the Forest County Potawatomi Community, the Wgema Campus serves home to many tribal entities and tenants, including Greenfire’s Milwaukee corporate office. Great efforts were made to preserve as many original and historic features of the collegiate buildings as possible, while implementing many modern amenities and mechanisms, many to LEED® standards. The campus is a fully secured complex, featuring office and commercial space, an underground parking structure, EV charging, spaces for community engagement, and the renovation and modernization of a historic gymnasium.
Greenfire is proud of the results of these now award-winning projects and congratulates Johnsen Schmaling Architects and Quorum Architects on their efforts and vision for each project.
