LYRIC, ARDEN and The Breese area series of three prominent mixed-use development projects in downtown Madison. The Breese features affordable housing units situated in the vibrant Tenney-Lapham neighborhood while LYRIC and ARDEN occupy the rapidly re-developing East Washington corridor frontage. Ground-floor retail and additional boutique office spaces are incorporated into the buildings, making them truly mixed use and highly diverse in their occupancy. Saiki Design worked with EUA architects on all phases of design and construction, which together occupy an entire city block.
The projects carve out public and private exterior spaces along all four street frontages. The East Washington streetscape features an elevated terrace, designed in part to prevent historic flooding in this part of the Isthmus from reaching building doorways, but also to set off the buildings with integrally colored concrete terrace walls that complement the warm tones of the building masonry. An allée of trees provides shade for the south-facing terrace and provides pedestrian scale and context consistent with the East Washington Avenue neighborhood development plan.
High above the public street frontage, multiple levels of green roofs and roof terraces provide outdoor spaces for both large and more intimate social gatherings, private balcony spaces for residents, grill stations, and raised planting beds for residents to grow their own herbs, vegetables and flowers. Eleventh floor terraces provide panoramic views of the City’s skyline and give off the vibe of a hip evening hang-out spot with a custom-designed pergolas and fireplaces.
The project was also honored with a ‘top project of the year’ award.
