FRONT and Center

Kern Center strikes a strong profile

Milwaukee School of Engineering Kern Center

By Brendan O'Brien

Photo courtesy of C.D. Smith Construction Inc.

It's hard to miss the Milwaukee School of Engineering's Kern Center in downtown Milwaukee.

And that's exactly what the designers and builders had in mind for the project when they constructed the state-of-the-art health and wellness facility.

"I think that it becomes a very strong image for MSOE," said Scott Ramlow, associate partner at Uihlein Wilson Architects, the project designer. "It is a building that can identify their campus and, in a lot of ways, will become their identity in the city because it is so visible and so powerful."

That visibility is due in no small part to a glass ellipse that sits prominently on the corner of Broadway and Knapp Street. And the architect didn't rely on reflected or tinted glass to get attention.

"We used light in the building at night, so the building really glows and calls attention to itself," Ramlow said. "The norm is to use tinted glass, and that really puts a blank face out to the street. In terms of the visibility and the openness, that really is the key element."

he five-story, 210,000-square-foot building includes a fitness center, a 160-meter track, tennis courts, a wrestling room and a laundry facility. The structure is also home to MSOE's Athletic Department and a center for health and counseling services.

But the highlight of the center is a basketball arena designed one floor above a 1,600-seat ice hockey arena.

"That relationship presented structural challenges in how to build a roof for the ice arena that could also work as a floor for a basketball arena," Ramlow said.

	Project Name: Milwaukee School of Engineering Kern Center Location: Milwaukee Submitting Companies: Uihlein Wilson Architects Inc., Milwaukee, and Hunzinger Construction Co., Brookfield General Contractor: Hunzinger Construction Co. Architect: Uihlein Wilson Architects Inc. Engineer: Arnold & O'Sheridan Inc., Madison and Brookfield Owner: Milwaukee School of Engineering Project Cost: $32 million Start Date: April 2003 Completion Date: October 2004

Crews used a special crank at the site to handle the steel trusses that span the ice rink and support the basketball arena floor on the main level. Each truss weighed about 200,000 pounds.

The construction of the ice rink also posed a challenge for the construction team, which had to dig 40 feet below ground level within 20 feet of the street.

"Our first challenge was preventing the street and the church [next door] from falling into our excavation," said John Anderson, project manager for general contractor Hunzinger Construction Co.

Hunzinger also had to deal with the challenge of losing the first four months of the 20-month building schedule over ownership issues of the land and other unforeseen elements during excavation. But the construction team still satisfied MSOE's hope of having a completed project before Oct. 1.

"We essentially compressed the schedule by four months and were able to turn it over on time," Anderson said.

The building, which showcases engineering throughout its design, has become the school's signature structure.

"It is not that hard to do with a building like this because the natural tendency is to expose most of the structure," Ramlow said. "The second floor of the ellipse is hung from the roof structure vs. being supported by the floor in order to keep a clear span for the ice. All of the structure that does that is exposed and articulated."