Sometimes, a few carefully considered technical tweaks are all it takes to restore the aesthetics of a space and enhance its functionality. Built in 1938, the Muellner Building is occupied seasonally by the Wauwatosa (Wis.) Curling Club and rented for special events the rest of the year by the City of Wauwatosa, which owns the structure. The club struggled to maintain consistent quality in the pebbled ice surface required for curling, even after insulation was suspended from the building’s ceiling. Last year, Kahler Slater moved the insulation out of sight when reroofing the building and tightening the entire envelope, revealing the original wooden barrel-vaulted ceiling on the building’s interior. Air-handing and fire-suppression systems were relocated and camouflaged, and obsolete lighting was replaced by linear LED fixtures that can be programmed to meet the desired mood — illuminating downward for curling competition or uplighting the barrel roof to full aesthetic effect for weddings and other gatherings. “We came in and rethought all of those systems — from not only a building enclosure standpoint, but from an aesthetic standpoint — to essentially make them all disappear and focus people’s attention on the wood,” says Adam Bastjan, Kahler Slater’s design principal in charge of the project. “The curling club has seen membership increase, which has been really great. And from what we’ve heard, the community schedule — the events and parties and everything else — is booked. They’re very excited for much greater usage of that space by the community than they had before.”
