Eye of the Beholder

Architects share their visions

Ask an architect for his favorite building, and you're likely to be greeted with silence.

An architect instinctively realizes what a loaded question that is. There are so many factors that go into naming a building as your favorite.

Is it a personal choice, like the house you grew up in? Is it a technical choice, such as a building that strikes the perfect lines? Is it a relic of a bygone era of craftsmanship that modern times will never see again? Do you pick a building designed by one of your architectural heroes or a structure you studied in school?

For the architects we surveyed for Eye of the Beholder, it came down to shades of perfection. No building is above criticism, so they picked the buildings that represented the best of the attributes they treasure.

It wasn't an easy question. And we made it tougher by adding several conditions. In order to qualify as a favorite, the building had to be in Wisconsin, it had to have been designed by someone other than that particular architect and it couldn't be an obvious choice, like the Milwaukee Art Museum or the state Capitol.

• City Hall earns Engberg's lifelong appreciation • US Bank is apple of West’s eye • Martzke puts Field House in perspective • It’s not just a barn to Kruser • Cox finds inspiration in the Wright way • Johnson building impresses Cooper • Oberbeck sees magic in sentry’s disappearing act • Prospect apartments catch Claussen’s attention • Church inspires Kadow • Grzeszczak likes warehouse’s purity

We wanted to discover the little-known architectural treasures in the state. We wanted to find the surprise buildings that make people say, "Wow."

And we wanted to find out what structures hold the greatest influence for the architects who are designing Wisconsin's buildings. We figured we could get a gauge of the architectural philosophies in Wisconsin today if we found out what buildings come to mind when architects think of perfection.

So we picked 10 architects with varying backgrounds from different parts of the state, and we asked them the big question.

Here are their answers.