Saiki Design | Landscape Architects

The Kohl Center is an icon of the University of Wisconsin - Madison campus and a centerpiece of the University’s Athletic Department. Saiki Design was part of a large, multi-disciplinary team that worked closely with the University, Athletic Department, and State of Wisconsin to design the new basketball arena. Saiki Design was responsible for site development from concept design through construction administration.

Site planning challenges included the interface with major pedestrian circulation corridors, limited on-site parking, truck and semi-trailer delivery routes, media equipment and vehicle access, bus loading zones, integrated homeland security measures and site landscaping for event foot traffic.  A particular project challenge involved primary use of the facility during the winter months. Design detailing considered snow removal and storage requirements, winter interest in the landscape, integrated site lighting and creative pavement drainage.

A post-construction addition to the Kohl Center project included the integration of several light sculptures into the site.  Saiki Design worked with the public artist and project engineer to locate the sculptures and ensure the site design and homeland security measures remained intact. 

Saiki Design ‘s latest site design efforts at the Kohl Center were the incorporation of the LaBahn  Arena and support facilities for hockey and swimming within the Kohl Center complex.    

Saiki Design provided site planning and landscape architecture for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Crew House, later named the Porter Boathouse. Situated on the shore of Lake Mendota, The Boathouse serves as the central training facility for the University of Wisconsin men’s and women’s rowing programs and houses coaching and support staff. The rowing operations themselves presented specific site challenges; expansive sidewalk widths, trailer access points, boat launching areas, and pedestrian traffic re-routing along the Howard Temin Lakeshore Path, all of which were accommodated gracefully with the site design.

The new building is sited nearly on top of the old footprint and Saiki Design worked closely with KEE Architecture to protect and preserve a number of large, mature oak trees within the construction boundary. Using extraordinary tree protection measures designed during the planning stages and carefully implemented during construction nearly all of the mature trees on site were preserved.

Saiki Design worked with architects at Ellerbe Becket and developers at Hammes Company to provide site planning and planting design for a  renovation and addition to Lambeau Field, home to the Green Bay Packers professional football team, and an architectural icon of the region.  Saiki Design was responsible for creating a plant palette for the entire site that was urban tolerant, low maintenance, highlighted the proud colors of the Packers organization and was able to withstand the varying levels of use and traffic within the site on any given day.  The result was a vibrant site with planting highlighting the Packers Pro Shop and south gate areas of the stadium.

Saiki Design was retained nearly fifteen years later during a subsequent phase of expansion and renovation to provide site planning and design for the south end zone improvements and expansion.  The overarching goal of the project was to create an enhanced pedestrian experience for game day users.  Saiki Design worked with Elkus Manfredi Architects and Hammes Company to strategically locate a variety of pedestrian enhancements, integrate security measures, create architecturally sympathetic fencing and formulate layered planting beds to buffer and screen two separate media parking and staging areas.

Camp Randall Stadium is an icon of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and the centerpiece of the University’s Athletic Department.  Originally constructed in 1917, the Stadium underwent a major renovation starting in 2005 to increase capacity for events, add offices for athletic department staff and create accessible, pedestrian oriented routes to and from the stadium.

Saiki Design provided site planning and landscape architecture for the project, working closely with University and Athletic Department staff to formulate the design vision.  Exterior improvements included a new streetscape along Breeze Terrace, integrated homeland security measures, added greenspace and ornamental plantings to complement the exterior of the building and define pedestrian spaces, and accessible routes to major entrance points around the stadium.