Case Studies Region: Midwest

Just business as usual, Carol A. De Young tells Blueprint in late October, and for customers of Countryside Plumbing and Heating Inc. in western Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota, that’s cause for comfort. Though she anticipates retiring as president, likely in 2019, De Young assures that family-owned Countryside will keep on keeping on. It’s been six […]

When the Hyatt chain opened one of its newest resorts near the Caribbean paradise of Cancun on Mexico’s eastern shore, Carl Kernodle, vice president of planning and design, practiced his own method of quality assessment. “I walk the property and talk to the people, asking them where they’re from, how they’re enjoying their vacation and […]

Many construction companies may call themselves custom home builders, but in Chris Edwards’ experience, oftentimes they are only offering customers a choice among pre-selected homes. “It’s what I call a ‘modified tract home,’ and they basically show you their product line of maybe a handful of floor plans and a few designs, and that’s it,” […]

Derrick C.W. Childs has his hands full—literally—on a late May day, handling an array of tools as well as a cellphone during a lively interview from a construction site in Cleveland. But that’s business as usual for this high-spirited man whose work ethic and Christian faith run deep. And, as if heaven-sent, business is booming […]

Seafront condominiums don’t often win plaudits for creativity. Functionality, for sure; after all, they tend to be big-box, even bland buildings packing in as many units as possible, each with pricy views of the ocean. Then again, few of those buildings were designed by the late Charles Moore. For it was Moore who designed a […]

There’s life yet in The Foundry, a different kind of existence to be sure than when it was the foremost metal-casting facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan. But workplaces may have to change in order to be relevant and this one sure has, with the industrial work of another era giving way to 50,000-plus square feet of […]

Many is the young person who, even after college, doesn’t know just what it is he or she wants to do. “I’ve got to find myself,” that new graduate might say. Then there are people like Eric Skott. The founder of Crestone Builders Inc. in Watertown, South Dakota, was just 16 when he found himself […]