The Design Challenge
The Lake Monona Waterfront Design Challenge was a once-in-a generation opportunity to shape the future of Madison's urban waterfront. This was a competition to create a visionary, inclusive, and environmentally focused master plan for Madison's foremost public lakefront comprising 1.7 miles of shoreline and 17 total acres.
The Design Challenge process started in March 2022. Thanks to the generosity of many donors, we were able to fund half of the Challenge stipends for the final three design teams.
Master Plans
The City provided the planning area and guiding principles to help guide the master plan design process. A City-appointed ad hoc committee was created for design challenge process. Based on RFQ (Request for Qualifications) submissions, the City and ad hoc committee selected three multi-disciplinary teams to participate in the Design Challenge. Each selected team received a contract for a set stipend of $75,000 to develop a waterfront master plan option and participate in the competition.After 14 weeks of development, the design teams completed their master plan submittals for the Lake Monona Waterfront (see the design reports, presentation plans, and introductory videos below). The master plan was selected through public input and the City’s Ad Hoc Committee evaluation. The unanimous choice was Sasaki!
Sasaki - winning design
Madison is a thriving capital city with a history that is inseparable from its lake system. Millennia ago, Madison’s system of five lakes was part of a single water body, Lake Yahara. This freshwater lake and the fertile land around it became home to the first human inhabitants of the area, the Ho-Chunk Nation. Our relationship to the lake has evolved since then, along with its very geography; the Lake Monona we know today is largely defined by human usage. We are at an exciting point in the story of Lake Monona. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a waterfront that reflects the 21st century values of Madison. We have the rare chance to reflect the diverse voices of the city—past and present—and plan for future users. The Sasaki Team is thrilled to submit our final deliverable for the Lake Monona Waterfront Design Challenge: ‘Voices of the Lake: Monona’s Waterfront.’
Agency Landscape + Planning
The Lakes have always been essential to Madison’s civic identity and character - there is much beloved about the
relationship between Madison’s unique culture and its vibrant natural heritage. The lakes also serve as a mirror, reflecting the City literally on a bright day and symbolically in terms of where investments are made. Madison’s future treatment of Lake Monona offers the chance to reflect City values to be equitable, welcoming, and environmentally healthy.
While there have been ambitious plans and much to applaud about the Lake’s evolution, there is much unmet potential today. Climate change, community open space needs, and shifts in transportation patterns have increased the urgency to fully leverage the Lake’s role in contemporary Madison. Change on Lake Monona has been constant. The guiding principles of this Framework Plan emerged from an intention to honor and integrate multiple past legacies while staying true to 21st century values - many of which seek to evolve past the last century’s decision-making to a more equitable, healthy future.
This Framework Plan imagines a revival for Lake Monona - one that honors layers of the past while embracing a powerful long-term vision for all of the community.
James Corner Field Operations
Madison’s Aldo Leopold said, “When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
“Wild Lakeshore” is a vision for Madison’s next generation of land stewardship. Building on the legacies of Leopold, the Ho Chunk Nation, John Nolen, Frank Lloyd Wright and contemporary climate activists, the lakeshore of the future offers a model for Madison’s urban growth and re-wilding at the same time.
Situated on a narrow isthmus, the identity of Wisconsin’s capital city is inexorably linked to its extraordinary lake-filled landscape. “Wild Lakeshore” offers an unprecedented opportunity for Madison to redefine its relationship to Lake Monona, and more broadly, nature in the city. By connecting the lakefront to the city with connective green infrastructure, expanding territories for parkland and softening its shoreline, the scheme envisions a place where city and nature are inseparable.
Through design we aim to create an extraordinary lakefront that captures the very essence of Madison. The “Wild Lakeshore” offers an innovative model for urban living, where nature, along with outdoor recreation, social gatherings, cultural activities and economic opportunity — are welcoming and accessible to all.
Community Involvement
City of Madison Parks conducted a survey on the submissions - the survey closed on March 23, 2023, and was part of an eight-week public review phase that began on January 26, 2023. City of Madison Parks shared the survey results and comments with the Lake Monona Waterfront Ad Hoc Committee and the design challenge winner, Sasaki. They continued to listen to the community throughout the design process. The design was approved in April 2024.