Heatherwick Studio has been commissioned to redesign and transform a central element of Harley-Davidson’s Headquarters in Milwaukee, US, the Juneau Avenue campus. The location is set to become a public park and green gathering space for the employees of the motorcycle company, as well as for the local community. In its center, the park features a large-scale amphitheater and sunken multi-use events space designed to be accessible to motorcycle riders. The project is set to break ground in 2023, with the park becoming available for use by the summer of 2024.
Titled “The Hub,” the main feature of the campus presents an 83-meter-wide amphitheater. Its circular layout is adapted to double as a motorcycle driveway, complete with parking bays, sidewalks, plants, and seats. The flexible design aims to transform the campus into an attractive gathering space for formal and informal community events, promoting the ideas of togetherness for the community, riders, and employees.
The Hub presents views of the brick buildings on the Juneau Avenue campus, the original home of Harley Davidson. In the opposite direction, the park is sewn with 120 native plant species of trees and perennials. The campus is set to be expanded to include a market street, a contemplative garden, and a nature playground.
The outdoor amphitheater will be built with ten different types of locally sourced brick, natural wany-edge timber, and weathered steel. For this project, Heatherwick Studio will collaborate with local offices. One of them is HGA, a Milwaukee architectural firm that will act as the architect of record and will provide the civil engineering, landscape, lighting, and technology design.
Our goal is to turn this historic factory land into a new public park for the people of Milwaukee. We want to make an exciting community space where people can come together with friends and family and experience the wildness of nature alongside spaces for food, performance and play. The ambition is to highlight and celebrate renewed life in the Near West Side of this very special city. - Thomas Heatherwick.
On a similar note, Hofbauer Liebmann Wimmesberger Architekten and X Architekten have opened the KTM Motohall Showroom, a dynamic building that evocates the motion of KTM motorcycles. In a bid for sustainability and innovation, Harley Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz declared in an interview that the company is undergoing a long-term transition with the aim of becoming an all-electric brand.
