AEC News You Can Use Blog

When Barbara and Robert Elsner bought a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in 1955, they wrote the famed architect to ask if he had designed any landscaping for the house. Wright responded that he hadn’t, but told them that their 1917 home was “a good house of a good period for a good client.” 

Since then, the Elsner family has carefully preserved the Milwaukee house, returning the interiors to their original paint colors and buying back the home’s custom-made furniture.

Now, however, the family is ready to hand the house over to a new steward, according to the Elsners’ daughter Margaret Howland, who lives in the home. They are putting the property on the market for the first time in 68 years, asking $1.5 million.

The five-bedroom, roughly 6,700-square-foot home is a stone’s throw from Lake Michigan in the historic North Point neighborhood, said listing agent Melissa LeGrand of @properties-elleven Christie’s International Real Estate. Read more here

The best structural elements are easy to install and safer to touch.

Lawsuits are piling up against architects as they lock horns with owners over a several-year stretch of project delays, local construction attorneys said.

In the aftermath of the pandemic’s many construction sector interruptions, there’s a battle over who should take the blame for long-delayed projects. Those eager to recoup costs associated with those delays are sometimes pointing the finger at their contractors, as well as design professionals.

That’s being seen increasingly often by Andrew Carlowicz Jr. and Lawrence Powers, co-chairs of the Construction Law Department at New Brunswick-based law firm Hoagland, Longo, Moran, Dunst & Doukas LLP.

The duo has handled many disputes over the years on behalf of architects and engineers. The civil lawsuits that have emerged from this most recent trend are what they describe as interesting and definitely some of the most complicated.

“Because, when a project finishes late, there are some instances where a delay issue was clearly the responsibility of either the design team on a project or the contractor but, that’s rare,” Carlowicz said. “Usually, it’s many different issues caused by different parties concurrently that lead to delays.” Read more here

The building would stand out in even the biggest of cities.

But here, amid a sea of nearly ripe corn, a solar field and wetlands in northeastern Kenosha County, the Pritzker Military Archives Center overshadows the rural landscape.

The building’s shape resembles a World War II landing craft. Its steel girders and columns are painted a bright red.

Its founder is a retired colonel who happens to be a billionaire with a passion for military history. The building’s architect is world renowned, and the project serves as a unique gateway to this village of just over 9,000 people in southeastern Wisconsin.

Chicago-area architect Celeste Robbins wasn’t in the market for a weekend getaway, but it was love at first sight when she laid eyes on a low-slung 1956 residence designed by architect Winston Elting overlooking Lake Michigan. “A client had contacted me about doing some work on the residence, but in the end they decided not to purchase it,” recalls Robbins. “It was a completely spontaneous decision to put in an offer, but I love the mid-20th-century vocabulary and the two-acre site is fabulous.”

Canon U.S.A. announced that it has been recognized in the annual PRINTING United Alliance Pinnacle Awards, winning six coveted Pinnacle Products Awards and one Pinnacle Technology Award for 2023.

Former NFL wide receiver Mike Williams died Tuesday morning after he was taken off life support at a Tampa, Florida, hospital following a construction accident, his agent Hadley Engelhard told CNN. Williams was 36.

Williams was performing electrical work when he was severely injured and required hospitalization, according to Engelhard.

“He will be missed. He fought hard his whole life. Prayers to his family,” Engelhard said.

Williams was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft out of Syracuse University. The Buffalo, New York native was voted second for the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year after catching 65 passes for 964 yards and 11 touchdowns. He started all 16 games for the Buccaneers.. Read more here

The iconic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright is found in abundance in his home state of Wisconsin. Born in 1867, Wright is often considered the greatest architect of all time.

His designs, famous for incorporating light and nature, are referred to as Prairie Style, after the low, flat lines of the landscape of the Midwest. Wright also designed budget homes to reflect the impact of the Great Depression, called Usonian homes; these homes were considered affordable yet beautiful places to live.

Wright was commissioned to create private homes, offices, and public spaces such as churches and civic centers, almost all of which are still standing today. There are many Wright homes and buildings in Wisconsin and for fans, a Frank Lloyd Wright Trail was created in 2017 to provide travelers to Wisconsin a way to map out several of the iconic stops.

Since there are Wright designs in almost every state, other “trails” exist around the country. Read more here

in 2010, the U.S. government announced a multi-billion-dollar plan to improve the energy efficiency of its buildings, including a focus on LEED certification. Used worldwide, LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—is a system that rates buildings on energy efficiency. A new study examined the effects of LEED certification on energy efficiency in federal buildings. The study found no effect on average energy consumption, primarily because many other factors come into play when rating energy.

Esteemed architect Santiago Calatrava is being honored by the Florence Biennale of Art and Design for his contributions to the world of design. In October, the Spanish architect will receive the Leonardo da Vinci Lifetime Achievement for being “one of the most influential architects of our time.”