Maserati of Miliwaukee

Front Elevation
Interior Design	Proposed Addition - Birdseye View
Rear Elevation

Lake Forest Sportscars chose Haag Muller, Inc. to provide Architectural, Structural, Civil and Interior Design services for Wisconsin’s first Maserati Dealership located in Glendale, WI. On the site of a former Land Rover dealership, extensive redesign work was required to remove the former Land Rover Corporate Image and replace it with an interior and exterior appropriate for an exclusive manufacturer such as Maserati. After much consideration of the site options, which included scraping the site and starting fresh, the owner determined their best return on investment was to leave the building shell intact and modify the structure to meet Maserati’s Corporate standards. All this had to be done while planning for the addition of two future high end manufacturer’s lines – each of which required their own corporate identity - all the while, keeping a central architectural design theme throughout the existing and future structures. It was definitely a design challenge.

Interior Design
Meeting the challenge with fresh thinking, design documents were created and the project was underway. Interior redesign came first. The well-worn Land Rover interior was stripped and a new, clean and artful interior “canvas” to display the vehicles was assembled. Elegant tile from Italy provided a white glove surface to display the vehicles on. Subtle wall fins and Maserati artwork lined the show room while an HD projector produced video imagery of Maserati's in action. Clear glass walls and doors with privacy appliqués allowed the General Manager a clear view of the entry foyer, boutique, meeting room and sales floor. It also opened the space making the rather small dealership feel larger by increasing the views and welcoming in daylighting. Restrooms were upgraded to allow for accessibility and the finishes within them were brought up to high end design standards. The design concept was to make the client feel as comfortable in the restroom as they were on the showroom floor. The showroom featured energy efficient, state of the art ceramic metal halide lighting. Chosen to provide the best color and coverage in the space – no generic high bay lighting that is typical of too many dealerships today – the lighting brought out the character of each and every vehicle displayed below with vibrant, color accurate views. All of the lighting in the showroom, boutique, and new offices was designed to meet the task requirements of the space and contribute greatly to the overall design theme of the interior.

Exterior Design
On the exterior, following the owner’s direction to achieve the best return on their investment, material selection became critical to achieve the required Corporate Image, construction cost efficiencies, and determining a key design theme and material that could be carried into the forthcoming additions. The elevation drawings shown here indicate the final design for the Maserati dealership (not yet completed as of this writing) and subsequent massing model for the future building addition for the proposed Aston Martin dealership. The former Land Rover dealer was poorly lit and incorporated a rustic, residential design motif, certainly not a great starting platform for a Maserati Dealer. However, using the same clean and artistic design theme incorporated on the interior, the new lines of the exterior building modifications removed the residential feel and provided a well lit, classy, high end illustration, with clean lines and a strong corporate image projecting the brand without relying heavily on signage.

Overcoming the challenges of an existing site, and the team work between the owner, designers, and contractor, we have brought back to life a run down building that had been abandoned for a new facility in the suburbs through the thoughtful convergence of Architectural, Structural, Interior and Site Design.