Heatherwick Studio and HGA-Designed Park at Harley-Davidson Headquarters Awarded Prestigious SITES Certification for Nature-Based Solutions and Sustainability

MILWAUKEE (December 15, 2025) — Acclaimed interdisciplinary design firm HGA, in collaboration with the Harley-Davidson Foundation, today announced that Davidson Park — the four-acre urban community green space located at the historic Harley-Davidson headquarters on W. Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee — has achieved SITES certification. The recognition reflects the firm’s long-term commitment to stewarding the park’s ecological, social and operational performance for decades to come.

Designed by Heatherwick Studio in collaboration with HGA and completed in June 2024, Davidson Park earned the acclaimed SITES certification from Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) for its holistic approach to materials, native planting, stormwater management and accessibility – all elements that support long-term sustainability and maintainability. SITES is the foremost comprehensive rating system for sustainable landscape design, construction, and management.

“Davidson Park is the result of an extraordinary community-driven process,” said Peter Balistrieri, principal and Corporate Market Sector Leader at HGA. “This project transformed a previously dormant site into a vibrant public destination, achieving this distinguished certification for its integrated approach not just to sustainable landscape performance but also its commitment to the long-term integrity and vitality of Milwaukee’s Near West Side community.”

The urban park occupies a previously paved, utility-dense block that drains into an overburdened combined sewer system. Combined with the park’s intentionally bowl-shaped design, the site created significant challenges for stormwater management. HGA’s team approached the design through a holistic, engineering-forward process and coordinated across civil engineering, landscape architecture, structural engineering, electrical engineering, and lighting and technology design teams to navigate a 40-foot grade change. As a result, the park now exceeds municipal stormwater management requirements — providing peak storage volume of more than 230,000 gallons through the implementation of bioswales, permeable pavers and underground storage systems around the site. Combined, these measures create a site that reduces the amount of impervious surface by over 40% and cuts peak flows to the City’s combined sewer system by more than 50% during major storms. HGA collaborated with the Fresh Coast Protection Partnership (FCPP) to secure funding for the green infrastructure implemented around the site. The FCPP will stay engaged for the first few years of the park to assist with the ongoing upkeep, operations and maintenance of the park’s advanced green infrastructure systems.

The idea to incorporate more green space in the neighborhood came as a result of a summit with the Near West Side Partners that gathered more than 200 community stakeholders. Following the summit, Davidson Park took shape as the Harley-Davidson Foundation engaged Heatherwick Studio, in partnership with HGA, to design the space. The initiative sought to transform the underutilized Harley-Davidson parking lot into a vibrant public park that would bring accessible recreation, cultural programming, and much-needed green space to an underserved community. Signature features such as “The Hub,” a sunken multi-use events amphitheater and rally space with tiered flexible promenades for seating, motorcycle parking, or vendor staging, all framed by native plantings — serves as a homage to the hub of a motorcycle wheel.

“Davidson Park brings our community’s vision to life,” said Tori Termaat, Chief Human Resources Officer at Harley-Davidson. “Together with HGA, Heatherwick Studio and our project partners, we transformed a long-dormant parking lot into a vibrant civic space that reflects the spirit of Milwaukee’s Near West Side and the values of Harley-Davidson. HGA’s collaborative approach, technical expertise and genuine commitment to the community were key to making this vision a reality.”

Davidson Park is HGA’s second SITES certified project, and the latest in a series of landmark public realm and landscape architecture projects that HGA has delivered across Milwaukee and the Upper Midwest, focused on ecological performance and public stewardship. Recent regional examples include the community-driven redevelopment of Milwaukee’s Trestle Park; the Lower Landing Trailhead Building at Cottage Grove Ravine Regional Park in Washington County, Minnesota; and the re-wilding of the Jackson & Fort neighborhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

About HGA
HGA is a national interdisciplinary design firm committed to making a positive, lasting impact for our clients and communities through research-based, holistic solutions. We believe that great design requires curiosity — forming deep insight into our clients, their contexts, and the human condition. Our collective of more than 1,000 architects, engineers, interior designers, planners, researchers, and strategists works across healthcare, science and technology, corporate, cultural, education, and government markets. Visit HGA.com or follow HGA on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

About Heatherwick Studio

Heatherwick Studio is a team of over 250 problem solvers dedicated to making the physical world around us better for everyone. Based out of our combined workshop and design studios in London and Shanghai, we create buildings, spaces, objects and infrastructure. We want to see a world where the buildings and places around us are radically more joyful, engaging and human.

The studio’s completed projects include several internationally celebrated buildings, including Little Island in New York City, the award-winning Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, Azabudai Hills district in Tokyo, and Coal Drops Yard in London. The studio is currently working on 30 live projects in ten countries. These include Hainan Performance Art Centre, a major cultural institution in China, mixed-use projects in Shanghai and Seoul, as well as new headquarters for Google in London (in collaboration with BIG).

Humanize: A Maker’s Guide to Designing Our Cities by Thomas Heatherwick, the studio’s founder, was published by Scribner in 2023. www.heatherwick.com

About Harley-Davidson Foundation

The Harley-Davidson Foundation, established in 1993, is the philanthropic arm of Harley-Davidson, Inc. The Foundation cultivates social impact through employee volunteerism, collaboration with other non-profit organizations and investments in youth programs that foster STEAM innovation and programming. Our Foundation priorities include a commitment to our home, the Near West Side of Milwaukee, and the communities where we live and work across the globe.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.