Over the coming months, Milwaukee Public Museum and exhibit design partner Thinc Design of New York City will share concepts for the five permanent galleries – Time Travel, Wisconsin Journey, Milwaukee Revealed, Living in a Dynamic World and Rainforest – that will be located inside the museum’s new structure planned for the city’s Haymarket Square neighborhood.
Samples of each gallery’s many exhibits and the experiences visitors can anticipate will also be unveiled.
“After much collaboration with community stakeholders, educators, tribal partners from Wisconsin’s First Nations, museum curators and scientists and many others, MPM and our partners at Thinc Design are excited to be on the cusp of sharing more details about the much-anticipated Future Museum,” museum President and Chief Executive Officer Ellen Censky said in a news release.
“We have aimed to create a future museum experience that honors the mission, history and legacy of the Milwaukee Public Museum. The iconic specimens and elements visitors love are being brought forward and reimagined in new, exciting scenes alongside collection objects that have not been on display previously. As part of one of the most highly anticipated milestones of this project, in the coming months we will give our community a first look at the stories of nature, culture, science and history the future museum will tell.”
The museum is planning for a $240 million to transition of one of the region’s biggest tourist attractions out of its deteriorating building on MacArthur Square and into an architecturally unique new structure north of Fiserv Forum and the Deer District.
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The rollout of gallery themes and exhibit examples will take place over 11 weeks and spotlight high-level concepts and focus areas for the future museum’s galleries, or groups of connected exhibits. Each announcement will provide an inside look at a sampling of exhibits, collection items and features visitors can expect when the new museum opens in late 2026 as the design team continues its work to identify each collection item and exhibit that will be on display.
The new museum will feature six galleries across four exhibit floors and include five permanent galleries and a temporary gallery space to host a rotation of special or traveling exhibitions. The museum will also include two flexible spaces – to be known as mixing zones – dedicated to showcasing a rotating selection of collection items with views into research labs and collections storage areas, the Daniel M. Soref Planetarium and the Puelicher Butterfly Vivarium, where visitors will again find live butterflies and moths.
“Each gallery, and the many exhibits that comprise them, will tell a story about the interconnectedness of nature and culture,” said Oronde Wright, senior exhibition designer at Thinc Design and a lead designer of the new museum. “In keeping with the singular, beloved energy of MPM, the future museum will also continue to champion immersive, interactive experiences that transport visitors to new places across the world and through time, spark curiosity and make the Museum such a special place to visit again and again.”
The gallery details shared in the upcoming announcements are only a sampling of the exhibits, collection items and experiences visitors will encounter in the new museum. Additional specific details about the full array of exhibits and collection items that will make up each gallery are still being determined and are subject to change as the design process progresses.
Additional information about visitor amenities, including the lobby space, museum store, café and programming will also be shared in the future. More than 200 philanthropists, foundations have pledged gifts as part of the Wisconsin Wonders fundraising campaign.
Launched in July 2022, the fundraising campaign has now raised more than $128 million, including $45 million from Milwaukee County and $40 million from the state, toward the $240 million goal.
“The enthusiasm we have felt already from the community and from donors has been inspiring, and we are immensely grateful,” said Jay Williams, former museum president and campaign co-chair along with his wife, Madonna. “Our hope and belief is that the momentum started by these bold, early funding partners cascades into further support from partners all around Wisconsin who will now see, more tangibly, how the future museum will create a multi-generational impact as a world-class educational institution.”
Milwaukee Public Museum and Thinc Design will be rolling out the galleries from March 7 to May 23. The gallery announcement schedule is as follows:
- March 7: The Time Travel gallery is dedicated to exploring the deep past, including when dinosaurs roamed the earth, through exhibits focused on three of the planet’s geological chapters: the Paleozoic Era, Mesozoic Era and Cenozoic Era.
- March 23: The Wisconsin Journey gallery is an entire exhibit floor focused on the geological wonders and strong and varied cultures of Wisconsin – from the Driftless Area to the Northwoods, the Apostle Islands, the Great Lakes and Wisconsin’s vast prairielands.
- April 14: Milwaukee Revealed will immerse visitors in city streetscapes they can explore to learn about the history of Milwaukee, the people who came to settle and live there and its interconnected systems, neighborhoods and ecologies (and where future generations of children can shop for a sweet treat).
- May 9: In the Living in a Dynamic World gallery, visitors will take an unconventional journey to five distinct ecosystems across the globe and be immersed in the landscapes and cultures that occupy them. The Mixing Zones, including the Burke Foundation Mixing Zone, are two spaces that will showcase a rotating selection of collection items, offer spaces for public interaction and programming and turn the museum “inside out” by providing behind-the-scenes views into the collections’ storage areas.
- May 23: The Rainforest will take visitors to the tropics to learn about the biodiversity that flourishes in tropical rainforests and the life rainforest climates support. The Puelicher Butterfly Vivarium will welcome visitors into a warm, lush greenhouse thriving with real tropical plants and live butterflies flying freely throughout the space. The Bucyrus Rooftop Terrace will be a gathering space to reconnect visitors to the outdoors and natural world.
The Milwaukee Public Museum’s new facility will be the largest cultural project in the history of the state. 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, off-site 50,000 square foot collections storage building. Groundbreaking for the building is slated for late 2023, with Mortenson and ALLCON overseeing construction.
The Milwaukee Public Museum’s current home on West Wells Street will remain open until the new space is completed.
