Midwest Airlines Center

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The Midwest Airlines Center (formerly Midwest Express Center) is a convention and exhibition center located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The center is part of a greater complex of buildings which includes the U.S. Cellular Arena and the Milwaukee Theatre.

[edit] Description

The building opened in 1998 and features 188,695 square feet of contiguous exhibit space along with a 37,506 square foot ballroom. Naming rights were sold to Midwest Airlines. Skywalks connect the convention center to the nearby Hilton and Hyatt hotels.

Art was incorporated early in the design stage and is the largest design-build project in Wisconsin. Its architecture reinterprets the many historic German buildings found in downtown Milwaukee. Along with art-as-design features, the John J. Burke Family Collection is scattered throughout the interior.

On the Fourth Street side of the center is an outdoor reliquary garden titled "City Yard." Created by artist Sheila Klein, it contains many iconic items from Milwaukee's DPW such as fire hydrants and the classic blue police call box. Within this area are planters containing ginkgo trees and a large monument with four limestone lion heads set in relief. These architectural elements were salvaged from the AT&T building that once stood nearby.

Artist Vito Acconci created an indoor-outdoor sculpture titled "Walkways Through the Wall." Designed to integrate private and public space, these curled terra cotta colored concrete strips flow through structural boundaries and provide seating at both ends.