Inside the $255M Milwaukee Public Museum project

The precast shell of the future Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin is complete and the building is expected to open in 2027. Currently, crews are chipping away at the interior in downtown Milwaukee.

Mortenson and Milwaukee Public Museum on Thursday held a guided media tour of the museum interior.

The 200,000-square-foot, five story building on Sixth Street and McKinley Avenue will be the new home for the Milwaukee Public Museum as it gets ready to leave its old location at 800 Wells Street. Mortenson is the construction manager at risk working with national architecture firms and dozens of Wisconsin-based subcontractors and suppliers.

The price tag of the project is $255 million, up 6% since the initial cost estimate of $240 million in 2018, said Dr. Ellen Censky, president and CEO of MPM, to media during the tour. The museum used strategies such as locking in prices early and tactics such as creative value engineering solutions during construction to fight inflation and rising construction costs.

The museum secured $86 million in public funding including $40 million from the state’s 2021-23 budget, $45 million from Milwaukee County and $1 million from other sources, officials said. The museum will raise the rest of its funding through private donations, and Censky said they will hit their fundraising goals before opening next year.

Modern design a strong feature for new museum

The first floor of the building is anchored by grand staircase suspended from the roof of the building and rising through the rest of the museum floors, though the staircase was obscured by scaffolding during the tour. A more than 80-foot lightwell reaching a skylight on the top of the building from the first floor is underway.

The museum incorporated respite areas with tall windows fitted with bird-safe glass to allow visitors to find respite and take time to process away from the immersive museum inside. The areas are also designed to keep light out of the rest of the museum and prevent disruptions to the galleries inside.

Museums require stringent environmental settings and heating and cooling ducts snake their way through the inside of the building. Around 14 mechanical units are tucked away inside the building, which frees up the rooftop terrace where people can rent the space for events.

One of the challenges of building the museum was the lack of right angles, requiring crews to come up with creative field solutions, said Kurt Theune, vice president and general manager of Mortenson’s Milwaukee office.

On a given day, there were more than 100 craft workers in various trades such as mechanical, electrical and plumbing on site.

The project follows the city’s Residents Preference Program, requiring 40% of work hours to be opened to Milwaukee residents. Theune said the project has exceeded that goal.

The previous museum at 8^th and Wells streets was completed in 1962. It will close later in 2026, and the Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin will open in the first half of 2027. The previous museum land is being studied for potential redevelopment.

The project team includes Ennead Architects, Kahler Slater, GGN, Thinc Design, Emem Group, ALLCON, Kapur and Associates, MC Group, LLC, Altieri, LERA Consulting Structural Engineers and IBC Engineering Services.