A Vision For The Future

From the beginning of their involvement with the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery project, John and Tashia Morgridge believed the facility should not only house scientific research, but also serve as a place for people with different skills and interests to work together. The concept for the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery Town Center grew from their vision for a transformational new facility that would enhance the dynamic intellectual environment within its walls, and extend the institutes’ impact to the edges of the Madison community and beyond to embrace discovery and the exchange of ideas without barriers.

The Morgridges shared their vision for a multidisciplinary research facility combined with an open, inviting public space with the members of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) Board of Trustees. The WARF board took up the Morgridges' vision and agreed to work with them to meet the challenge of combining a public and a private research institute, as well as a lively crossroads space, under one roof.

"It was very important that the architects understood the goal of having this building be a kind of meeting place, more or less, for people on campus," says Tashia Morgridge. "Not just [important for] scientists, but also as a social center where people will come, maybe just for a cup of coffee or maybe just to pass through the building on their way to somewhere else."

A trustee of Stanford University, as well as a member of the WARF Board of Trustees, John Morgridge had observed the success of the Bio-X Program at the James H. Clark Center at Stanford, a building purposely designed to be changeable and modular. It was also designed to be a crossroads between various departments on campus. However, the geography of the Stanford campus, prevents it and the Clark Center from being accessible to the larger community.

The location of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery building on the 1300 block of University Avenue, bordered by Campus Drive, North Randall Avenue and North Orchard Street, is conducive to the creation of a campus crossroads; but it is also sufficiently close to the evolving Regent Street corridor, including parts of the Vilas and Greenbush neighborhoods, to become a focal point for the larger Madison community. As a result, the vision of a crossroads was enlarged and the concept of a "Town Center" emerged. 

Two years of focus group studies, as well as visits to other great research institutes, have helped WARF staff members develop a detailed vision for the Town Center. A Town Center design team that includes members of the UW-Madison community, as well as the greater Madison community is continuing to assist WARF staff to hone that vision. The goal is to create a space where people –– including employees of the institutes, the university and the general public –– will want to gather.