Cloud Apartment No. 2

Milwaukee, WI

Photography: William Zbaren | Kendall McCaugherty | Hall+Merrick

Positioned at the top of the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee Art Museum by Santiago Calatrava, this apartment is nestled among the clouds. As such, the clients wanted it to feel equally light and free. They wanted a space that would embody quality and engage the lake, sky, and city vistas beyond.

The client’s program request was three-part — Create an exciting space for entertainment, design an inspiring place to live every day, and provide a peaceful retreat.

The project's restrained palette gives way to an expressive glass stairway at the center of the space, linking the main living level to the more private second level above. This stairway, rising through a patterned glass scrim, appears to dance as one moves through the apartment. Anchored by an illuminated onyx plinth, the glass treads and prismatic enclosure above glow as space unfolds between the two floors.