McKenzie Regional Workforce Center honored by AIA Wisconsin

The McKenzie Regional Workforce Center earned Special Recognition in Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) with a 2025 Award by the American Institute of Architects Wisconsin Chapter.

The McKenzie Regional Workforce Center in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, repurposes a former split-level prairie-style office building into a hub for vocational education and workforce development in Dane County. The project is a partnership between the Madison Area Builders Association and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dane County, in collaboration with multiple local businesses and school districts to develop new career pathways in trades for Dane County students. The project includes a single-story addition that houses skilled trades classrooms, deliberately positioned along primary circulation paths to make learning visible and engaging. 

“‘This project successfully fosters an environment that encourages engagement with the trades and skilled work, an important and timely initiative.”

Elissa Morgante, AIA, 2025 Juror

The adaptive re-use of a former office building creates a collaborative environment to teach skilled trades with the goal of sparking an interest in vocations like plumbing and carpentry earlier in a student’s education, thus creating generational change in families and diversifying a historically white and male workforce.

Read more about AIA Wisconsin 2025 Design Awards on their website.