AEC News You Can Use Blog

Cabins, homes, military compounds, and outhouses, oh my! The oldest buildings in Wisconsin date back to the 1700s and run the entire utility gamut.

Wisconsin officially became a U.S. state in 1848, but many of its oldest buildings actually predate its statehood. This goes for many states in the Midwest, the South, and New England, as these were the first areas that Europeans settled on before moving westward. Naturally, this means that Wisconsin and other Eastern states have some of the oldest buildings in the nation, often dating back to the mid-to-late 1700s and early 1800s, while the oldest structures in Western states like Nevada only date back to the mid-nineteenth century and later. 

With Wisc. possessing so much rich history, we knew we had to take a closer look at which buildings across the Badger State have stood the test of time and are still standing nearly two centuries later, in some cases. For instance, one of the most interesting buildings in the state is the St. Joan of Arc Chapel; however, this building was erected in France circa the fifteenth century and didn’t cross the Atlantic to reach New York and later Marquette University in Wisconsin until the 1900s. While it’s certainly a sight to behold, we’ve excluded it from our actual list since it wasn’t originally built in Wisconsin, but if you can go see it in person, we recommend it. It’s the oldest building in the state, and it’s both gorgeous and carries such a storied past. 

With that established, let’s look at 10 of the oldest buildings in Wisconsin, from cabins and hotels to military buildings and even an outhouse (yes, you read that right).

1. Roi-Porlier-Tank Cottage (c. 1776)
Address: 2640 South Webster Ave, Green Bay, WI 54301

The Roi-Porlier-Tank Cottage is the Badger State’s oldest still-standing building, enduring in Wisconsin since the mid-1770s (aka prime Revolutionary War time). It hasn’t always occupied the same space, however..Read More

The Waldorf Astoria’s much-delayed $2 billion overhaul was hit with a full stop-work order after a 45 year-old construction worker plummeted to his death on Thursday, Jan. 2.

Policed identified the victim as Elie William by Jan. 6. He fell through a hole in a suspended ceiling on the swanky Park Ave. hotel’s sixth floor shortly before 10 a.m., before landing 40 ft. below in a third floor ballroom. He was reportedly helping an electrician at the time, and was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS.

The luxury hotel is in the midst of a $2 billion top-to-bottom revamp. It shut down in 2017 after planning to add 375 condos for long-term residents, and was originally scheduled to reopen its doors to patrons in 2020, but COVID and other construction delays pushed the opening back to this spring.

Suffolk Construction Corporation is the project’s general contractor, while the while Pierre-Yves Rochon is in charge of the revamped interiors. The 625-foot-tall Art Deco landmark occupies a full city block bound by Park Avenue to the west, East 49th Street to the south, East 50th Street to the north, and Lexington Avenue to the east.

Under the stop work order, the DOB is demanding that safety conditions for construction workers be improved before the order will be lifted.

”Failure to safeguard and maintain safety measure led to the cause of the incident, DOB violation was issued Stop all construction work entire jobsite, provide safety measures for operations going forward,” the order notes.

It’s the second fatal construction accident on the East Side of Manhattan in less than a month. Queens resident Jose Ramirez Munoz, another 45 year-old construction worker, was killed on Dec. 13 while working on the demolition of the Community Church of New York–and its affiliated residential brownstones–on E. 35th St., between Madison and Lexington Avenues.

In that incident, a cherry picker that he was riding on hoisted him 32 ft. above the ground, bashing him..Read More

We’re living in a time where the once-impossible visions of science fiction are becoming our everyday reality. It’s perplexing and somehow confusing because everyone is now scared that artificial intelligence will replace them. When you think about the potential of machine learning in architecture, it seems impossible to compete with algorithms that can calculate massive, complex structural and environmental data in a split second. But the problem lies in how we look at it, AI can not replace human thinking it can only enhance and push it further.

Welcome to the future of architecture, where machine learning isn’t just a tool but a collaborator, a designer’s trusty companion. Long before the first blueprint is ever drawn, ML algorithms integrated with BIM can predict how a building will interact with its environment. So, should we be afraid of where we are heading or rather excited and welcome this new era of unimagined reality?

Explore the latest techniques in leveraging machine learning to optimize design decisions by enrolling in the PAACADEMY course.

In this article, we’ll explore how ML’s cutting-edge technology is revolutionizing design processes, enhancing decision-making, and ultimately redefining the very fabric of our built environment.

John McCarthy, credited as the father of AI, defined artificial intelligence in the 1950s as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs.” Machine learning falls under the broad umbrella of artificial intelligence and focuses on developing algorithms capable of learning from and making decisions based on data. In 1959, a pioneer in the ML field, Arthur Samuel, defined it as the “field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed.”

To better illustrate how ML works, consider the simple example of Instagram algorithms. Obviously, you don’t tell the platform which reels you are interested in (no instructions were given), but the ML algorithm carefully watches your..Read More

Any fan of Frank Lloyd Wright knows his architecture is centered around harmony between indoors and out. On a recent, crisp summer evening, as I stood barefoot, in a towel, lost in the courtyard of what was once Wright’s personal home in Spring Green, Wisconsin, this principle had never been more apparent. I felt the judgmental gaze of his tall, cast-concrete garden sculptures of mythological female figures, called Sprites, their arms crossed, eyes gazed downward, but still seeming to wonder, what was *I* doing *there*? I hoped the guided tour in the living room couldn’t see me as I emerged from a dark, skinny hallway, where I’d showered in a yellow-lit bathroom next to a handful of bedrooms once used by Wright’s apprentices. But after a 6 a.m. flight and a corridor of identical doors, I couldn’t find my way back to mine.

I’m probably not the first person who has ended up lost at Taliesen, but I’m likely one of the first journalists. While there are many options for guided day tours of the 800-acre rural estate where Wright lived and worked for nearly five decades, staying overnight is a rare privilege. In 2021, Taliesin Preservation added weekend workshops with classes in crafts like baking, photography, and painting, which, for $1,500, grant everyday Wright fans the chance to stay on the grounds. In early June, though, for the first time in the property’s 113-year history, journalists were invited to spend two nights there for the reopening of its Hillside Theater after a five-year $1.1 million restoration.

Since the start of fellowships at Taliesen in 1932, the Hillside Theater served as a multiuse entertainment space for Wright’s apprentice program, which hosted movie screenings and concerts for the public on Sundays. (The theater is housed in the same building as the drafting studio used by Wright’s protégés.) In the mid-’50s, Taliesin fellows made a few structural updates to the theater following a fire. But since then, it remained unchanged. Though Wright is arguably the most famous American architect, and one of the most influential of our time, his buildings have..Read More

Jonathon Yu is not a professional developer, but he is interested in building new housing.

In 2023, the 29-year-old product manager submitted plans to Sunnyvale to raze the modest 1,000-square-foot bungalow he bought a year earlier and replace it with a three-story, five-unit multifamily building.

He paid a few thousand dollars for an architect to draw up plans, then a few thousand more to the city for application fees. His parents called him insane for spending so much, but Yu had the money, and he wanted to build housing.

He didn’t have the funds for what Sunnyvale demanded next: To get the permit for the $3 million project, he would need to pay $300,000 in impact fees, one-time charges imposed by local governments to fund improvements to infrastructure like roads, parks and schools.

“What stopped me were the impact fees,” Yu said. “If I would have completed the structure, it would’ve been the most affordable new housing in the area.”

Across the Bay Area, impact fees like those Yu encountered often surpass six figures per unit — and developers have had little leeway to challenge them.

But a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court could limit the impact fees that California can levy, which some say could lower the barriers to building new housing.

The case involved California landowner George Sheetz, who challenged the $23,420 fee El Dorado County required to fund road expansions the county said were necessitated by the small home he wanted to build. Sheetz sued, arguing the Constitution’s taking clause limits what the government can take without fair compensation.

Previous cases have required such fees to be “roughly proportional” to a development’s impact. But California courts have held local governments to a lower standard

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court found that was incorrect, and remanded the case to the state court for reconsideration. It’s unclear what new standards the California court will.. Read More

$700 million redevelopment in Milwaukee could be set to result in the tallest mass timber building in the world and the tallest building in Wisconsin.

The project, led by green developers The Neutral Project and designed by Michael Green Architecture (MGA), is set to transform the Marcus Performing Arts Center parking garage into a mixed-use development featuring up to 750 residential units, 190,000 square feet of office space, 40,000 square feet of retail space, 300 hotel rooms, 1,100 structured parking spaces, and public plazas and walkways.

"As mayor, I have not been shy about my goal to grow our city's population to one million Milwaukeeans," said Mayor Cavalier Johnson.

"To do that, we need to be aggressive and reach for new heights. This project will help us do just that, literally aiming to set local and global records, but just as importantly add density and activity to an underutilized City-controlled parcel in downtown Milwaukee. It also represents a forward-thinking Milwaukee, open to outside investment and ideas, and I thank The Neutral Project for their confidence in Milwaukee's future."

The Marcus Center seeks to build on Milwaukee's record – the city is already home to the world's tallest mass timber tower – the 25-story Ascent MKE.

A press release shared with Newsweek suggested that The Marcus Center could be up to 55 stories. The Neutral Project is also developing The Edison, which is set to be 32 stories tall.

A mass timber tower is a type of high-rise building constructed primarily using engineered wood products, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), glulam (glued laminated timber), and laminated veneer lumber (LVL).

These materials are engineered for strength and stability, allowing for the construction of tall structures that were traditionally built using concrete and steel.

Mass timber towers are considered more environmentally friendly compared to traditional construction methods. Wood.. Read More & See Videos

A construction worker died after a portion of a crane fell onto the Southeast 3rd Avenue bridge Thursday in downtown Fort Lauderdale, crushing a car and injuring three more people.

The incident happened at around 4:30 p.m. on the bridge over the New River, near Southeast 4th Street.

Fort Lauderdale fire officials said in a news conference said a construction crew was in the process of "stepping the crane" by adding sections to a crane to make it taller when a platform fell from the building, along with pieces of the crane.

The construction worker fell with the crane section, causing fatal injuries, officials said. The crane itself remained secured to the building.

The crane section landed on the nearby bridge, damaging at least two vehicles. At least two other people who were in vehicles were transported to the hospital, one in stable condition and the other with minor injuries. A third person was also treated for their injuries at the scene.

Footage from Chopper 6 showed the crushed vehicle as well as another damaged car nearby. Several police units and paramedics responded to the scene.

Mark Cerezin's Tesla was damaged by the falling crane piece. He said it bounced off his car and landed on the vehicle next to him.

"I was driving and I felt a compression, and I looked up and I saw the blue structure coming down, and I slammed on my brakes. It sheared off the front of my Tesla and all the airbags went off — and I’m very lucky to be alive," Cerezin said.

One woman who lives in an apartment across from where the collapse happened said she saw the crane falling from the sky and hit the corner of a building. She described the screams she heard from construction workers as "unsettling."

"It was really shocking," said the woman.. Read More & See Videos

The jury trial for a lawsuit filed by a Northwest Arkansas couple against HGTV stars Dave and Jenny Marrs has been pushed back to 2025, according to court documents.

A pretrial hearing has been scheduled for January 14, 2025, and the trial is set to begin on January 27, 2025.

Matthew and Sarah McGrath sued Jupiter Rentals and Marrs Construction in February 2023, companies owned by Dave Marrs, who co-stars in HGTV’s “Rock the Block” and “Fixer to Fabulous” with his wife Jenny.

The couple’s lawsuit claims the Marrs’ companies worked on a house for them, only to realize later it had multiple problems, including a “critical safety issue” with the home’s deck.

The Marrs claimed the couple would not allow the companies to repair the home, but made an effort to do so.

A settlement in the lawsuit was not reached after multiple failed attempts at court-ordered mediation. A filing in October 2023 by the plaintiffs said one attempt “failed utterly.”

In June, it was revealed in court documents that the lawsuit could face delays after the McGraths claimed in a filing that due to the tornadoes that ripped through Benton County on Memorial Day weekend, which left numerous businesses and homes affected, contractors “will be unusually busy for the next few weeks to come.”

A motion for extension was filed on June 4 by the plaintiffs asking that the discovery deadline set for June 24 be pushed back.

The judge granted that extension and the deadline was moved to July 8.

After the extension was granted, the plaintiffs asked for the trial to be pushed back.

Despite disagreement from the defendants, the trial was pushed back from the original September 23 start date.. Read More

Increased government infrastructure spending is bolstering companies in the Zacks Building Products - Miscellaneous industry. Although potential challenges like macroeconomic uncertainties, high rates, low consumer confidence, new product investments, and rising raw material costs could squeeze margins, firms such as Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. WMS, Armstrong World Industries, Inc. AWI, Frontdoor, Inc. FTDR, Construction Partners, Inc. ROAD and Latham Group, Inc. SWIM stand to gain from operational excellence, geographic and product diversification strategies, strategic acquisitions, and higher infrastructure investments.

Industry Description

The Zacks Building Products - Miscellaneous industry primarily comprises manufacturers, designers and distributors of home improvement and building products like ceiling systems, doors, windows, flooring and metal products. Some industry players provide solutions to rehabilitate the aging infrastructure, primarily pipelines in the wastewater, water, energy, mining and refining industries. The companies also manufacture expansion joints and structural bearings, ventilation products, ground-mounted solar racking and commercial greenhouses, as well as mail storage (solutions including mailboxes along with package delivery products). Companies in this industrial cohort also rent out equipment to a diverse customer base, including construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and government entities.

3 Trends Shaping the Future of the Building Products Industry

U.S. Administration’s Infrastructural Spending: The industry players are expected to benefit from strong global trends in infrastructure modernization, energy transition, national security and a potential super-cycle in global supply-chain investments. The U.S. administration’s endeavor to rebuild the nation’s deteriorating roads and bridges and fund new climate-resilient and broadband initiatives is expected to aid the companies. Meanwhile, as the industry players’ business prospects are highly correlated with U.S. housing market conditions, improving residential construction markets are expected to drive growth. Builders are now cautiously optimistic for 2024 as the lack of existing inventory is shifting demand to the new home market, thereby driving the demand for companies’ products in the industry.. Read More

There’s nothing else like this architect-designed octagonal home, which dates from 1972 and is on the market for the second time ever.

The three-bedroom home is located just north of Milwaukee and was designed by local architect James G. Plunkett for his family. It’s said to be inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and features a vast open-plan great room housing the living room, kitchen, and dining room. This space has soaring 20-foot-high ceilings with an oculus skylight, timber beams, and a huge brick fireplace.

The seller bought the 4,440 sq ft River Hills home in 2021 and has updated it to keep with its 1970s design. The kitchen has new porcelain counters, an infinity-edge island contrasting the exposed brick walls, and all new appliances. New bookcases have been installed, and the entire space is ringed by windows and sliding glass doors that offer views of the woodland.

Holly Swezey and Aly Swezey of Coldwell Banker Realty/B Real Co Team hold the listing for the Wisconsin property, with an asking price of $1.777m.. See More Photos Here