![\"A](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/08\/arc300x200-20260722_EH_IMC_8818.jpg\")
\u201cWhen you are looking at a physical model, all of the sudden everybody understands what you\u2019re talking about,\u201d Wallick said. \u201cI like physical models as a teaching tool for students to understand the scale of a building they\u2019re proposing,\u201d as well as other details, such as how daylight will reach a structure.<\/p>\n
The Milwaukee model was inspired by an existing model of Chicago, created by the Chicago office of architecture firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, said Kyle Reynolds, professor of architecture and head of school,<\/strong> who also helped supervise the Milwaukee project. The Chicago model expanded to include many more buildings over time, and today it is on display at the Chicago Architecture Center.<\/p>\n UWM\u2019s School of Architecture & Urban Planning is the only accredited architecture program in Wisconsin. The school expects to have 900 students enrolled this fall, an 80% increase over the 500 students enrolled in 2020.<\/p>\n The Milwaukee model began with a simple printout of the city map, which Gingle and Rabadan circulated to faculty members, asking them to mark any structures that they or alumni or retired instructors had helped design. They used the map to determine which part of the city to include in the model: from the lakefront west to about Sixth Street, and from State Street south to roughly Jefferson Street in the Third Ward.<\/p>\n The next step was to choose the model\u2019s size and scale. After creating several prototypes, Gingle and Rabadan settled on a 1-inch to 50-foot scale, \u201cwhich allowed us to incorporate window openings and additional architectural details, enhancing the accuracy, depth and just overall visual quality,\u201d Gingle said.<\/p>\n Throughout her time at UWM, Gingle was employed in the school\u2019s rapid prototyping lab. Her deep experience with 3D printers and laser cutting tools gave the project a head start, but it was still labor intensive. Rabadan and Gingle laughed when they described the hectic late nights spent printing 3D buildings and painting the chipboard that became the model\u2019s streets and curbs.<\/p>\n They completed the model by the time they graduated in May 2025. Both were immediately hired by Milwaukee architecture firms \u2014 Gingle as a design coordinator for HGA, and Rabadan as an architectural designer for Dan Beyer Architects.<\/p>\n Most of the buildings in the model are dark gray, but if a building was designed by people with UWM connections, Gingle and Rabadan painted it off-white. Orange numbers on the model link to the nearby key, which names the building and the people who worked on it.<\/p>\n As instructors and alumni have visited the model, they have pointed out additional buildings with UWM contributions. Staff are keeping a spreadsheet of those additions, and the buildings are gradually being painted off-white.<\/p>\n During a recent campus visit, Gingle and Rabadan talked about returning one day soon to paint off-white the buildings that they will work on in their new professional roles.<\/p>\n Wallick and Reynolds hope to engage students in expanding the model, to include additional areas of Milwaukee and more structures with UWM connections.<\/p>\n \u201cMilwaukee\u2019s built environment is really exciting because of the projects our alumni are doing,\u201d Reynolds said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 8-foot by 12-foot 3D model brings to life the impact of the School of Architecture & Urban Planning on Milwaukee\u2019s built environment. And it will be on display as part of Doors Open Milwaukee on Sept. 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3151,"featured_media":158516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[258,127,122],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[260],"uwmnews-feed":[167,145,344,144],"class_list":["post-158515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","section-architecture","section-arts-humanities","section-campus-community","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-community-engagement","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-architecture","uwmnews-feed-arts-architecture","uwmnews-feed-architecture-urban-planning"],"uwm_unpublish_requested":false,"yoast_head":"\nBuilding the city from scratch<\/h2>\n
A source of alumni pride<\/h2>\n