Case Studies Region: Midwest

When John W. “Jack” Somerville sold his architecture and engineering firm, Somerville Inc., he wanted to preserve the reputation his family had built over 50 years. He wanted to avoid selling to a large firm that might gut Somerville Inc. of its legacy or its longtime employees. Converting the firm to an ESOP, or employee […]

When Mike McGrath is on a plane, he’ll flip through the inflight magazine. Inevitably, once or twice a year he spots a project MG McGrath Inc. has worked on. “Thankfully, a lot of the work we do ends up being iconic for various cities,” Mike says. It’s not uncommon for MG McGrath projects, like the […]

Bill Swarbrick Jr. used to light the lamp as a productive forward on Northern Arizona University’s Division 1 hockey team, scoring 42 goals over three seasons during the 1980s. Since then, he’s done even more lamp lighting at Superior Lighting Inc., which has offices in Omaha, Nebraska, and Des Moines, Iowa. Co-founded in 1968 by […]

Most people look at the Cleveland skyline and see a wall of glass and steel; Patricia McElroy, CEO and CFO of Duct Fabricators Inc., sees a legacy of jobs well done. Founded in 1962, her family’s business has installed HVAC ductwork in many of Cleveland’s most notable buildings, including the Quicken Loans Arena and the […]

Science and art meld when Mid-Am Metal Forming Inc. undertakes a project, an example being when the Missouri-based metal-bending specialists were contracted to top off the Milwaukee Art Museum’s vast reception hall in 2001. In designing his first U.S. building, as well as his first museum anywhere, the esteemed Spanish architect and structural engineer, Santiago […]

Ever hear the story about the bridal shower turned literal? The one where the night before the big day, an inebriated bride-to-be hung her gown on a hotel sprinkler head, causing it to break and flood not just the bathroom and her room, but much of the entire floor as well as some of the […]

For over 65 years, JJ Curran Crane Company has been responsible for much of the heavy lifting in southeastern Michigan. As Detroit’s largest crane rental and lifting equipment company, JJ Curran Crane’s sales staff and operating engineers have erected bridges across the Flint River, assisted in renovating the Detroit Free Press Building and set up […]

John Harlan, president of The Harlan Company, wasn’t planning on making a green building—or rather, the greenest building. But in 2015, he and others at the company learned about a private school in Missouri that needed a remotely located classroom built to the highest environmental standards set by the Living Building Challenge (LBC). The company […]

Not many people would use the word contemporary to describe the Rust Belt. Once the industrial heartland of the United States, the region, which sprawls from upstate New York to the Great Lakes to northern West Virginia, is now associated with the decline of American manufacturing. As a Cleveland native, James “Deej” Lincoln grew up […]

People have been building with stones, blocks and bricks since before they had language to describe what they were building. Sturdy, fireproof and low maintenance, stone buildings have carried humanity from the temples and fortresses of ancient civilizations to modern skyscrapers. As the times have changed and the materials have evolved, the need for craftsmanship […]