kadish amphitheater - milwaukee, wisconsin

The Kadish Amphitheater is a small multifunctional bandshell pavilion nestled in bucolic Kadish Park overlooking downtown Milwaukee.  The building consists of a simple folded concrete band with a secure cedar-clad locker box, providing shade and protection from rain and transforming from open air stage to silver screen by retracting sliding panels along the back edge.  Instead of permanently blocking the hillside vista of downtown, the concrete ribbon creates a picture frame, capturing views of Milwaukee’s skyline and Lake Michigan.  Looking up to the pavilion from the street at the bottom of the hill, the folded concrete band frames the idyllic landscape and sky on top of the hill.  The pavilion was designed as a flexible structure accommodating a variety of events, including concerts, neighborhood gatherings, and movies.  Even when not actively programmed, the white structure becomes a permanent folly in the park, a sculptural object in the best tradition of Milwaukee’s park architecture.  Its folded form offers a variety of formal gestures, depending on the direction from which you approach it, and is based on a series of simple folds of an in-situ concrete slab, an economic and durable material with superb sculptural characteristics.  The building is supplemented by the cedar-clad locker, a secure storage box that houses the stage infrastructure and as well as the sliding backdrop panels.