FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2024
MEDIA CONTACT:
Mueller Communications, 414-390-5500
mpm@muellercommunications.com
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM BREAKS GROUND FOR FUTURE MUSEUM
Milwaukee Public Museum, donors, civic leaders, construction partners and Wisconsin schoolchildren officially break ground for new building to be located in the Haymarket neighborhood, at the corner of Sixth Street and McKinley Ave
MILWAUKEE — Joined by community leaders and project supporters on Tuesday afternoon, Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) held a ceremonial groundbreaking celebration for the Future Museum in Milwaukee.
“As we break ground on the largest cultural project in Wisconsin history, we celebrate the expertise and generosity of all those who have brought us where we are today and the people for whom we are building the Future Museum,” said MPM President & CEO Dr. Ellen Censky. “It is wonderful to know that all the hard work and support for the Future Museum will enable future generations to find knowledge, joy, awe and wonder in it to last a lifetime.”
Local and state elected leaders, including Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld, provided remarks at the ceremonial groundbreaking. The event also included a land blessing and performances by local student groups from Indian Community School, Hmong American Peace Academy, Bruce-Guadalupe Community School and Ko-Thi Dance Company.
The Future Museum—designed by architecture team Ennead Architects and Milwaukee’s own Kahler Slater—will be located at the corner of Sixth and McKinley streets in the Haymarket neighborhood adjacent to the city’s Deer District. Following today’s groundbreaking, construction of the new building, led by local construction and real estate company Mortenson in partnership with ALLCON, is expected to begin in June.
“Today marks the start of a journey to build more than just a museum; together, we’re redefining possibilities through collaboration, expertise and innovation,” said Mortenson Vice President and General Manager Kurt Theune. “The team of Mortenson and ALLCON recognize that we are building not just a museum, but an iconic, accessible hub of culture, science and education for our community and those who visit our city. It is an honor to be trusted with the Future Museum’s construction.”
Heavily influenced by the ecological histories of Milwaukee and Wisconsin, the design of the new Museum will be reminiscent of the geological formations in Mill Bluff State Park, emblematic of the region’s diversity of landscapes formed by the movements of water through time. The convergence of Milwaukee’s three rivers—the Milwaukee, Kinnickinnic and Menomonee—inspire the Museum’s interior commons, with entrances welcoming visitors into a dynamic gathering space.
The building will be approximately 200,000 square feet, including five stories: The first floor will house an open Museum Commons atrium where visitors and the public can gather and bask in natural light from a sunny lightwell; the four upper levels will feature immersive exhibit space offset from neighboring floors in the Museum’s collections storage lobe, allowing visitors to peek into and preview different exhibit floors and collections that are not part of specific exhibits or dioramas. As previously announced, the Future Museum will feature five permanent exhibit galleries: Time Travel, Winifred & Spencer Kellogg Gallery: Wisconsin Journey, Milwaukee Revealed, Living in a Dynamic World and the We Energies Foundation Gallery: Rainforest. In addition to these galleries, the Future Museum will include the Daniel M. Soref Planetarium and Puelicher Butterfly Vivarium, where visitors can expect to find live butterflies and moths.
The new Museum will also include two gardens designed by GGN, located near the entrance to the Museum and on the Bucyrus Rooftop Terrace, providing an opportunity to bring native plants back into Milwaukee’s urban environment. Offsite, a separate 50,000-square-foot storage space will house additional collections.
More information about the Future Museum project, including architectural renderings, gallery information and a project timeline, is available at mpm.edu/future.
About the Milwaukee Public Museum
The Milwaukee Public Museum is Wisconsin’s natural history museum, welcoming over half a million visitors annually. Located in downtown Milwaukee, the Museum was chartered in 1882, opened to the public in 1884, and currently houses more than 4 million objects in its collections. MPM has three floors of exhibits that encompass life-size dioramas, walk-through villages, world cultures, dinosaurs, a rainforest, and a live butterfly garden, as well as the Daniel M. Soref Dome Theater & Planetarium. MPM is operated by Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc., a private, non-profit company, housed in a county-owned facility with collections that are held in trust and supported by Milwaukee County for the benefit of the public.
About the Future Museum
The Milwaukee Public Museum, Wisconsin’s natural history museum, will be relocating from its current location on Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee to a newly constructed building due to open in early 2027.
To be located on a 2.4-acre site at the corner of Sixth and McKinley Streets in the Haymarket neighborhood adjacent to the city’s Deer District, the Future Museum will be the largest cultural project in Wisconsin history. Heavily influenced by the ecological histories of Milwaukee and Wisconsin, the design of the new Museum will be reminiscent of the geological formations in Mill Bluff State Park, emblematic of the region’s diversity of landscapes formed by the movements of water through time. The building will be approximately 200,000 square feet, including five stories, with an additional 50,000-square-foot collections storage building.
To learn more about the Future Museum, visit mpm.edu/future.
###