The Journal Sentinel reports that Milwaukee’s NBA team, the Milwaukee Bucks, has released preliminary designs for a new arena.
Designed by local firm Eppstein Uhen Architects and global firm Populous, the sports venue will prominently feature a swoop, which some journalists and critics have likened to an inverted Nike swoosh.
The architects say this swoop references waves of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee River, and the arcing free throws of NBA players. Architect Brad Clark of Populous described it as a “soft, fluid form.”
Fans will be greeted with “a dramatic arrival experience” at a tree-lined plaza, which is expected to have restaurants, bars, outdoor balconies, and lighting features, all under a curving, transparent canopy.
“I am glad we are not going the traditional route, that we are looking at something modern and with an open feel to it,” Bob Greenstreet, dean of the architecture school at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, told the Journal Sentinel.
According to Urban Milwaukee architecture writer Tom Bamberger, the released design is “modest and it has a nice modernist curve to it.”
Find out more about the arena at the Journal Sentinel.
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