Henderson Engineers wraps $456 million expansion of Milwaukee’s Baird Center

Building systems design firm Henderson Engineers celebrated the May 2024 grand-opening of the $456 million expansion of Milwaukee’s Baird Center, the largest convention center in the state of Wisconsin.

Henderson served as Engineer of Record for the groundbreaking project, which doubles the facility’s footprint to 1.3 million square feet.

Spread across a two-block radius, the expansion features a new grand entrance that looks toward Milwaukee’s Deer District mixed-use development, connecting the convention center to a key entertainment and social corridor in downtown. In addition to extending the facility’s exhibition hall to 300,000 contiguous square feet, the redevelopment increases the number of meeting rooms from 28 to 52, bumps up the number of loading docks from 16 to 22, and adds more than 400 enclosed parking spaces. Other project highlights include all-gender restrooms, dedicated quiet rooms, lactation spaces, sensory rooms, and a rooftop ballroom and terrace offering breathtaking views of the city.

With patron experience in mind, Henderson gave special attention to ensuring public spaces are fully equipped with building systems to support varying crowd capacities without interfering with the aesthetic feel. The most significant of these systems are the facility’s fire and life safety apparatus, which feature massive exhaust ventilation systems to prevent smoke accumulation within assembly areas in case of emergency. In collaboration with project architects EUA and TVS, Henderson hid exhaust fans and grills behind beautiful, custom-designed air intake screens to make them virtually unnoticeable.

On the sustainability front, Henderson designed infrastructure that takes advantage of an existing downtown district steam loop to generate hot water and to provide heating. Excess heat produced from this process is designed to be used for the facility’s snow melt system during the frigid Wisconsin winter. By incorporating steam, the expanded Baird Center is 23% more energy efficient than the typical new convention center. Henderson also spearheaded other sustainable approaches including a solar roof, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and LED lighting. The project is overall designed toward LEED Silver green building standards.