For commuters going to and from campus and the UW Hospital and Clinics, the Highland Avenue underpass never beckoned as a place to linger. Like many such conduits, it was a concrete no-man’s-land, dreary during the day and downright grim after dark, especially for those walking home from work in winter.
Where most people saw nothing but a place to hurry through, one person saw interconnectedness, and the possibility of light in the darkness. Julia Schilling (BLA, ’15) worked with multiple partners and collaborators for seven years to bring Shift, Madison’s latest major public art project, to fruition. Her goal: to create the opposite of a dark, undesirable tunnel, improving safety, enticing walkers and bringing beauty into an unlikely place. In April, the city unveiled two 70-foot panels made from perforated weathered steel, spanning each side of the underpass beneath Campus Drive. Punched-out patterns forming “circle packing” algorithms sparkle when hidden LED lighting comes on, transforming the underpass into a “bright, intricate, sky-like place,” in Schilling’s words.
Pedestrians and cyclists interviewed by local news outlets expressed delight, calling the installation “attractive,” “really well done” and “well worth the money.”
“People seem to stop and look closer, or even snap a photo,” says Schilling, who has lurked at dusk to watch people’s reactions. “The space feels safer and more inviting now.”
Schilling worked with the Regent Neighborhood Association (RNA), 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, Inc., the Madison Arts Commission and the City of Madison Engineering Division on a vision that met goals for safety and connectivity, while also improving the aesthetics of a chilling space.
For any designer, the unveiling of a finished project is a poignant moment. For Schilling, it was especially meaningful. She started working on Shift
as an undergraduate pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture at UW-Madison. Her professor, Sam Dennis, assigned students a service-learning project to enhance the pedestrian experience for two underpasses between the Regent neighborhood and campus. The class assignment was in response to a real need: The Regent Neighborhood Association had been calling for public art to improve the two underpasses at Highland and Walnut Avenues, and the City of Madison’s “University Corridor Plan” recommended the same.
“It was an interesting challenge, because planting design was off the table, since nothing can grow beneath the underpasses,” says Schilling. “One aspect of landscape architecture that Professor Dennis often emphasized was how places can affect health and well-being. That really resonated with me. How can a place—a landscape—help people feel better?”
Highland Avenue leads directly to UW Hospital and Clinics, and as she worked on her proposal, Schilling pondered how to make that link feel more inviting.
“I knew light had to be a driving force in the design, so that’s where it all started,” she says.
Her linked circles of light echo patterns in nature—“things like cell structures, and cross-sections of bones and plant stems,” she says. Movement was also integral to her vision. The “accordion” design of the panels was meant to allow travelers to experience the shifting imagery differently depending on whether they are biking, driving or walking.
Along with other undergraduates, Schilling presented her proposal to RNA board members and residents in March 2014. Thrilled that her design was selected as the most promising, Schilling worked on Shift, with Dennis as her mentor and guide, throughout her junior and senior years.
After graduating in 2015, Schilling returned to Dennis’s Environmental Design Lab as a post-baccalaureate fellow, with Shift still taking shape. She continued to consult with community partners on the project, including RNA, UW Hospital and Clinics and campus planners.
Community-based design is an integral part of the student experience in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture, with dozens of projects in the works across the curriculum.
“Students engage with the public many times during the semester,” Dennis says. “They attend neighborhood meetings, research community plans and initiatives, and facilitate community design workshops.”
But Schilling’s long-term involvement was quite unusual.
“I have never seen this happen in my 22 years of teaching landscape architecture,” Dennis says. “Often the community partner will continue to work on the student project, but it’s rare for a project to be implemented with the original student still involved. This project was successful both from the high quality of the community-student engagement, and from Julia’s strong commitment. Her passion carried it forward.”
Schilling says the experience was invaluable and she draws from it every day in her role as a landscape designer with Saiki Design in Madison, where she’s been employed for the past six years (she’s been working from her home in Milwaukee during the pandemic). She is currently taking her Landscape Architecture Registration Exams and says much of the Shift process relates directly to what is needed to be a registered landscape architect.
“I learned first-hand that public process and fundraising take time and that when working in the public realm, patience and gratitude are essential,” says Schilling. “The most important part of my job is to help others visualize how a place can be different from what’s there now, and why that change is worth the effort and the investment.”