Built in 1997, this Modern building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright between 1938 and 1959, but had its construction overseen by Anthony Puttnam of Taliesin Associated Architects, whom had worked under Wright. It serves as the convention center for the city of Madison, and features a public plaza on the roof, as well as a liner park connecting the building to the nearby intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Wilson Street, providing a clear line of sight of the Wisconsin State Capitol a few blocks to the northwest. The design underwent many iterations during Wright’s later career, though it was heavily influenced by his focus on organic geometric forms that defined his work in the latter portion of his career, departing from the ornamentation of the earlier Prairie style and being more organic than his geometric designs for the Usonian houses built during the same time period. The building’s overall form is very true to Wright’s original concept, though it was made taller and the interior layout and programming are distinctly postmodern or contemporary, making some overtures to Wright’s later work, but featuring materials, details, and elements that make the building very clearly one from 1997, rather than from Wright’s lifetime. Nevertheless, the building is a graceful and spectacular addition to Downtown Madison and the shore of Lake Monona. The convention center came at a high cost in terms of finances, but also in terms of historical relics, with several ancient Ho-Chunk nation burial mounds on the site of the building being disturbed by the construction of its foundation, and the original view from Capitol Square to Lake Monona being forever blocked by the building’s height and rooftop fountain. Nevertheless, the addition of a large public terrace on the roof, a modern convention center, low-profile parking garage, and public restrooms have been a benefit to Downtown Madison and the public.

The building’s exterior facade is relatively simple on the side facing Downtown Madison, with a long linear park and walkway featuring distinctive sculptural lamps designed by Wright, which also are present at the entrance to Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive from Capitol Square, draw visitors to the building. The walkway expands into circular and semi-circular sections and contracts into narrower sections, crossing a bridge over the parking garage and a railroad line below before arriving at the building’s entrance. The entrance features modern storefronts, with a curved concrete parapet and soffit above, which supports a stylish modern fountain above, and is ringed by a semi-circular terrace that wraps around the semi-circular facade, which continues to ramps on either side that provide access to the rooftop terrace above and the parking garage below via elevator and stair towers, which sit at either end of the building and are clad in glass curtain walls. On the rooftop terrace, there are planters with trees, bushes, grasses, and flowers, two food service counters with outdoor seating and their kitchens in circular pavilions, circular pavilions housing restrooms, as well as stairs and elevators to the convention center below, and more sculptural lampposts. The building overall is a large half-cylinder massing with two cylindrical massings partially embedded into the sides, which have two smaller cylindrical massings at the point where the cylinders intersect with the half-cylinder facing the lake, with long wings on the flat side of the building that narrow before terminating at semi-circular ends. The side of the building facing Lake Monona features seven arched curtain walls separated by slender columns, which are recessed from the face of the facade above, and feature a planter at the base of the windows, a long curved storefront at the base that is recessed below the planter with the two circular massings embedded into the sides of the building’s semi-circular main massing being largely blank with cutaway arches at the base that expose the building’s structural columns. Part of the building sits over Lake Monona, and rests on concrete piers that are embedded into the lake bed below, which also support the Capital City Trail, a multi-use path that passes on the lake side of the building. The parking garage sits above John Nolen Drive and a railroad line, and is made of concrete, featuring arched openings and two spiral ramps, which harmonize with the design of the rest of the building. Inside, the building features multiple floors of convention and meeting space, with windows featuring curved bulkheads and soffits, large open atriums between various floors that are semi-circular in shape, which have staircases cascading down to lower levels and feature planters and half-height walls with gracefully curved tops, vaulted ceilings in some areas, red carpeting, decorative cove light fixtures, and large spaces with modern systems and amenities, which manage to embody the spirit of Wright’s design philosophy.