Greendale, Wisconsin is ingrained in the story American architecture by its historic design as a Greenbelt town. Accepting the responsibility of redeveloping part of a well-loved, but more recently disused, local mall, KTGY’s multidisciplinary designers envisioned this site as a community centered on a landscaped “village green,” reflecting the principles of local-scale design. This idea creates a walkable neighborhood of attractive and approachable multifamily housing, flexible public spaces and redesigned retail that, together, make a more porous and personable face to support the repositioned shopping center.
Verdell on the Green is a medium density building that provides active frontage to the village green and massing that breaks the scale of the building down for the pedestrian. It has three basic parts: an activated base featuring the lobby and retail, the body, and then a set back seventh floor. Equal volumes of the building are broken into micro communities by subtle color and texture changes that delineate the building horizontally. The designers create a statement corner using a wood brow that extends around the corner volume. The ground floor design includes a textured masonry facade with corbelling on the corner and gas lights to dramatize these details. Between the facade treatment and massing, the design of Verdell characterizes it with small-town charm, enhances it with modern amenities and creates a balance between the site’s heritage and this contemporary transformation.
