Architect of the Year

Kubala Washatko breathes life into design

By Seth Jovaag

The Kubala Washatko Architects Inc. Cedarburg

Secret doors leading to hidden slides, a conference table made from a bowling alley and something called a camouflage room.

These are a few of the ideas that sprang up during the planning of the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee, said Ken Leinbach, the center’s executive director. But none of them stumped the architects of The Kubala Washatko Architects Inc.

“It was really a testament to them,” Leinbach said. “They were willing to work with us on all the crazy ideas and come up with solutions.”

The $5 million center, located in a small park in “the most densely populated part of Wisconsin,” according to Leinbach, had about 50,000 visitors last year, more than triple what it had before the new center was built in 2004.

It includes a three-deck observation tower, a sunken bike path and dozens of eco-friendly details, including solar panels on the roof, reclaimed plank boards on the balconies and a zero-runoff policy that captures every drop of rain on site and puts it to another purpose.

All of that’s a far cry from the center’s original home — a 1,300-square-foot portable building with no bathrooms. Leinbach joked that when planning started, they just wanted four classrooms, a bathroom and some office space. Anything more would be icing on the cake.

That’s where Kubala Washatko came in.

“As a client, we went in knowing nothing about building,” Leinbach said. “They were able to nurture us along and educate us along the way.”

Leinbach’s kudos are nothing new for the 26-year-old firm founded by college friends Tom Kubala and Allen Washatko. This spring, the company got a unanimous nod for the Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects Wisconsin.

Kubala Washatko’s project list includes banks, churches, retail centers and educational centers. It’s worked on the Milwaukee Public Market, the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Bayside, the Aldo Leopold Center in Baraboo and Madison’s Children’s Museum.

The firm’s emphasis on green building helped the Schlitz center become the first building in Wisconsin to earn a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Recently, the Aldo Leopold Center was the first in the state to earn the platinum certification.

Ruth Shelly, executive director of Madison’s Children’s Museum, said Kubala Washatko’s unique approach to designing the museum’s new 45,000-square-foot home on Capitol Square earned her respect immediately.

Before they hit the drafting board, architects asked museum staff to try pattern writing. Basically, they asked people to write what they envisioned the new space would look like.

“I was grateful for that process,” Shelly said. “So many firms start out by saying, ‘We’re going to build a monument, and the use will adapt to our design.’ That wasn’t the case here.”

Like the Ecology Center, the new museum will incorporate green-building techniques, from using salvaged wood to planting vegetation on the roofs.

The museum, which won’t start construction for a couple years, is moving to a 1929 Montgomery Ward store that was used as office space until it was abandoned a few years ago. The building is rather sterile, Shelly said, but Kubala Washatko’s designs bring back period elements like larger windows, an inviting atrium and colorful awnings that will liven the place up.

The firm also knows how to make a place kids will visit and love, she said. One look at the unpredictable twists of the five-story spiral staircase is proof.

The inventive spirit that informed that staircase was evident during the entire design process, Shelly said.

“They’re a lot of fun to work with,” she said. “They have a real passion for their projects. Their enthusiasm is contagious.”