AEC News You Can Use Blog

There’s much to be said about what an architecture award functionally does: The AIA Gold Medal recognizes cumulative impact; magazine awards provide opportunities for emerging practices by showcasing design talent or lesser-known projects. But the Pritzker Prize is a little different, better understood as a "Nobel Prize" for architecture that honors an expression of design values over one’s career. Recent awardees, for example, include Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal (2021), recognized for their devotion to adaptive reuse, and Frances Kéré (2022), whose focus on design and social justice has brought his practice significant acclaim.

This year, the 2025 Pritzker Prize has been awarded to Chinese architect Liu Jiakun, 69, founder of Jiakun Architects. He’s known for his process—understanding specific nuances of a particular site, including its social and material histories—and portfolio, which are defined by an ethos, not any particular style.

For many Americans, Jiakun’s work has flown under the radar. The Guardian’s Olly Wainwright notes that he is only the second Chinese architect to have won the prize in its 46-year history, working exclusively in China on cultural and academic institutions, as well as civic spaces, many of which inject dense, urban conditions with natural features. But what makes his work so unique is how each project cracks open the site’s unique heritage and challenges, producing buildings that, according to the award announcement, "philosophically [look] beyond the surface to reveal that history, materials and nature are symbiotic."

Perhaps this idea is most evident in his "Rebirth Brick Project" that began after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake that destroyed nearly four-fifths of all buildings in the affected area. The research premise was simple: to reuse rubble as an aggregate mixed with cement and straw fibers in rebuilding after the disaster; since then, these bricks have been used throughout his work including the Shuijingfang Museum, which celebrates the world’s oldest..Read More

Contractors successfully moved a barracks building Jan. 22 from its resting area of 80-plus years to a new location on Fort McCoy’s cantonment area.

It was the first of five barracks buildings on the installation cantonment area's 1600 block that are being moved during January and February 2025 while the ground is frozen, Army Corps of Engineers officials said.

Devooght Building Movers of Manitowoc, Wis., is the contractor doing the building moves.

These buildings will eventually be reset at another area of the post so new construction can begin in their current location on new officer quarters.

Master Planner Brian Harrie with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works said a plan was previously worked out with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the contractor to move the five old barracks buildings to the 500 block of Fort McCoy in this move.

Four other barracks buildings also were moved from the 1600 block to other areas in 2023. Those four buildings are now operational in their new locations in the 1700, 1800, and 2100 blocks on the post.

In 2023 during the first barracks move operations, that was the first time an effort like that took place at Fort McCoy, Fort McCoy officials said.

Looking back, all five of the current buildings being moved were originally built 83 years ago in 1942 during the construction of Fort McCoy's cantonment area. An article in the Aug. 28, 1942, edition of The Real McCoy newspaper discussed the actual construction of the cantonment area and these buildings.

“Actual building and grading operations for the erection of the hundreds of buildings began March 20, 1942, although the original survey by a corps of engineers was made in July 1941. Authorization for construction was given by the War Department on Feb. 9, 1942.”

The article also states, “Each of the new buildings is of the most modern..Read More

HGTV stars Dave and Jenny Marrs have settled a remodeling lawsuit shortly before its scheduled trial date.

The Fixer to Fabulous hosts’ companies Jupiter Rentals and Marrs Construction were sued for breach of contract and warranty by couple Matthew and Sarah McGrath in February 2023, per local CBS affiliate 5NEWS.

The McGraths claimed that the Marrs failed to perform upgrades to their home. According to court documents obtained by the outlet, the McGraths alleged that the parties previously agreed to install missing cabinet hardware, replace broken windows and repair hardwood floors in the kitchen, among other repairs.

“As of August 28, 2022, not a single item on the list of repairs had been performed,” the complaint read, per 5NEWS. “Since that time, the defendants by and through Dave Marrs have attempted some of the repairs listed, but … several of the attempts to repair have caused more damage to the house.”

In Marss’ response, the twosome claimed that the McGraths refused to allow their companies’ agents or subcontractors access to the property.

Seven months after the lawsuit was initially filed, the court ordered mediation between the two parties. However the discussions “failed miserably” per a filing made by the plaintiffs.

In March 2024, a filing revealed that the McGrath’s property had nearly two dozen code violations after the house was inspected by another group of contractors. Dave, 44, reportedly stated in a deposition that he disagreed with the other home improvement specialists about the home’s alleged issues.

After not making any headway in the previous discussions, the Marrs and McGraths were scheduled to go to trial on Monday, January 27. However, 5NEWS reported that the parties reached a settlement on Friday, January 24.

“Come now plaintiffs, Matthew and Sarah McGrath, and defendants, Marrs Construction, Inc. and Jupiter Rentals, LLC, by and through their respective attorneys, and stipulate..Read More

Approximately 60 lawsuits have been filed in Richland, Lexington and Horry counties alleging construction flaws in residential houses built by major national homebuilder D. R. Horton.

The lawsuits allege various construction flaws relating to roofs, I-joists, flashing, siding, weather resistant barriers and cladding (protective coverings), depending on the house. Some defects allegedly can allow water intrusion, the lawsuits allege.

They charge D.R. Horton with negligence, breach of warranties and breach of contract, and in some cases, violations of South Carolina’s Unfair Trade Practices Act. In some cases, D.R. Horton sold homes to people knowing there were defects, some lawsuits allege. The plaintiffs seek actual and punitive damages.

D.R. Horton sold homes to plaintiffs “that required tight construction schedules with insufficient resources and labor to build a top-quality Residence,” says one lawsuit, filed by Sam and Kristina Prest about their Little River home.

D.R. Horton, a Fortune 500 company whose stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, describes itself as the largest housebuilder in the nation. It is headquartered in Texas.

The company is currently building houses in 125 markets in 36 states, including South Carolina, according to its 2024 annual report. In South Carolina, its projects are in areas around Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Spartanburg, Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach.

After being contacted by The State, a D.R. Horton official emailed a statement saying it doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation.

But the official said the company “is aware of the claims and actively engaging with these homeowners and their counsel” and added, “We have retained independent third-party engineers and experts to investigate the claims.”

“D.R. Horton stands behind the homes we build and remains willing to work with our homeowners to address any valid and warrantable concerns,” the statement said.

The current lawsuits are not the first against D.R. Horton in South Carolina.

Last year, D.R. Horton, subcontractors and suppliers reached a $16.1 million settlement in a class action lawsuit alleging construction defects in more than 200 houses in a..Read More

AI-powered design tools provide 25-30% efficiency improvements within architectural design workflows, streamlining generative design, improving sustainability, and supporting predictive analytics. According to a study, 68% architectural firms explored or implemented AI-driven tools by 2024.  

Without the use of AI, Architectural Scan-to-BIM can be time-consuming, laborious, error-prone, and inconsistent.                     

Modeling intricate details and geometries from point cloud data can create roadblocks leading to BIM model inaccuracies. Moreover, larger architectural design projects can become difficult to manage due to lack of scalability. AI helps to streamline and manage the data and design workflow, reducing such issues.  

For example, while Revit and Navisworks lack the presence of pre-built AI tools, integrations and third-party plugins can help bridge technology requirements.

Aurivus and PointCAD uses AI algorithms to convert point cloud data into 3D BIM model elements and can be integrated with Revit. Similarly, OpenSpace and Cintoo Cloud can support Navisworks in using AI for clash detection and site walkthroughs. Tools like 3D Repo, Verity and CupixWorks provide capabilities such as model federation, automated clash detection, and data validation.

In this article, we discuss the presence of AI-driven technology within the Scan-to-BIM workflow for architecture to automate tasks, enhance accuracy and facilitate data-driven insights for an AI-driven assessment.

How AI supports Scan-to-BIM services in architectural design

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has boosted Scan-to-BIM services significantly through improvements in accuracy, efficiency and automation.

AI-based algorithms assess complex and vast point cloud data from laser scans to identify and classify objects, such as windows, walls and other structural members. This removes the requirement for manual modeling, which can be time-consuming.

Additionally, AI-driven tools help architecture and design teams automatically flag clashes and ambiguities within the Point Cloud to BIM models and scanned realities. This ensures a greater level of accuracy and reduces error risks during on-site construction.

Overall, automation of repetitive tasks and delivery of valuable insights based on data analysis with AI makes Scan-to-BIM workflows seamless, leading to..Read More

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