The Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) teamed up with local design firm Art and Sons to create a learning environment, through the power of art, in the bathrooms of the Madison Public Market, now scheduled to open over the summer.
After the market issued a request for proposals in 2024, Art and Sons submitted their plan, which was voted on and ultimately chosen by members of the Madison Art Commission, said Meri Rose Ekberg, community and cultural resources planner with the City of Madison.
Once Art and Sons — the creative minds behind the interior design and branding for Bar Corallini and Osteria Novella, among other popular spots and local businesses — was selected, the firm’s partners, Jerry Chapa and Scott Pauli, got busy researching the MMSD’s history and processes for treating the Madison’s wastewater and keeping the city’s water clean, and they were inspired by what they learned visiting the district’s Nine Springs wastewater treatment plant, Chapa said.
Working with MMSD “was definitely something that we hadn’t done before, but our philosophy when it comes to these projects we take on is that we’re always curious,” Chapa said. To draw attention to water conservation and sustainability, their plan for the bathrooms, he added, was to make them interesting and engaging so people “would want to use every single bathroom in that whole space. Overall, we want people to talk about it.”
The market’s 14 bathrooms are spread across two floors, with all featuring different themes. Bathrooms on the first floor, playing on the theme “Where will you go?,” will draw attention to the issues with colorful pipes and murals illustrating how wastewater is cleaned and returned to the environment. Bathrooms on the second-floor, designated as the “The CAN,” highlight how everyday decisions impact water quality, with the double-meaning of “can” here helping to remind people they can make a difference to help protect our local water. Notes written on the mirrors, such as “clean water reflects you,” will remind visitors of the role they play in keeping water clean.
The public market “is estimated to have half a million visitors per year—that’s half a million opportunities to really spark that little moment of curiosity,” said Catherine Harris, MMSD’s pollution prevention specialist.
Given how often people often flush nonbiodegradable items such as wet wipes and dental floss down the toilet, posters and signs in the bathrooms will also help educate the public about what is right or wrong to flush, said Amanda Wegner, MMSD’s communications and public affairs manager.
“People will go into the bathroom and say, ‘I never thought about that.’” Harris is looking forward to the market opening and its playful bathrooms providing “an entryway into thinking about the greater system,” she said.
The collaboration between the City of Madison, MMSD and the market – located on the corner of East Johnson and First Streets, on the former site to one of the city’s first wastewater treatment plants – aims to create greater awareness of environmental issues, and there’s great excitement about the partnership and its potential for educating the public, said Madison Public Market Foundation director James Shulkin.
“We have built the Public Market to be environmentally conscious, recycling rain water to flush the toilets; installed solar panels to capture sunlight for our energy needs; and we plan to recycle as much of our waste products as possible,” he said. “MMSD is a natural partner for spreading the message of careful use of our environmental resources.”
