Retzer Nature Center

Natural Talent

Retzer project protects environment

By Jennifer Pfaff

Weekly meetings during construction of the Retzer Nature Center learning center expansion and planetarium addition focused on one theme: Waste not, want not.

After all, the project was all about creating a space in which the natural world can be studied, understood and appreciated. The new learning center, then, would be built on principles of sustainability.

“Everything that was torn out was recycled or reused wherever we could,” said Brian LaBonte, project manager with Menomonee Falls-based general contractor Creative Constructors LLC. “Everyone understood the need to do it.”

Creative Constructors, along with the Waukesha County Department of Parks and Land Use, achieved sustainability success with a 90 percent reuse and recycle rate by weight. Waukesha County and WasteCap Wisconsin Inc., a nonprofit waste-reduction and recycling group, guided the effort for the duration of the project.

Construction at Retzer began in August 2004. By May 2005, the Retzer Nature Center in Genesee boasted a 4,622-square-foot addition to its learning center and a 4,000-square-foot renovation of its previously existing facility. Fischer-Fischer-Theis Inc. designed the project.

The wood-frame building with asphalt shingles is accented with fieldstone. Inside, plans for timbers lining the walls were scrapped in favor of lighter and brighter drywall with light wells to illuminate the learning center.

“They have display cases of wildlife and natural elements on display,” LaBonte said. “The learning center is basically a big community room or school with dividing rooms.


	Project Name: Retzer Nature Center Location: Genesee Submitting Company: Creative Constructors LLC, Menomonee Falls General Contractor: Creative Constructors LLC Architect: Fischer-Fischer-Theis Inc., Waukesha Owners: Waukesha County Department of Parks and Land Use and the School District of Waukesha Project Cost: $1.16 million Project Size: 12,242 square feet Start Date: July 2004 Completion Date: May 2005

“It has window openings to bring nature in there. They have 400 acres to look out on.”

On the other end of the building, the new Charles Horwitz Planetarium — 3,620 square feet beneath a domed roof — provides seating for about 50 schoolchildren to gaze at a dazzling man-made starry night above.

The School District of Waukesha sponsored the project’s planetarium portion, which replaced an older, outdated facility in downtown Waukesha with the larger facility at Retzer.

“With fiber optics and whatnot, the equipment that is out there is a lot better these days,” LaBonte said.

And so is the seating. Similar to that in an IMAX movie theater, the planetarium sports reclined seating that allows students to lean back and take in the projection of the night sky.

But no matter what portion of the project the team focused on, every step was marked with a dogged determination to keep building materials out of landfills. The result was that a wide variety of materials were given new life.

“Usually, concrete is turned into stone or aggregate,” LaBonte said. “Drywall is sold as fertilizer; it is ground up and sold to farmers.”

Other items found their way into more one-of-a-kind uses. On this project, for instance, glass panels removed from the old building went to a local artist who planned to put them to creative use.

Knowing that the team achieved such a goal is a source of pride, LaBonte said, as is knowing that the center’s ability to educate its visitors has increased because of the additions.

“It gives the staff more room to pass on its knowledge to the visitors of the park,” he said.