By Design

Moraine Park Technical College in Fond du Lac is enjoying a significant increase in its culinary school enrollment. But with more students comes a need for more space. So Brummel Architectural Group, De Pere, is working with the college on a culinary arts center addition and remodeling project. The addition will expand the culinary center by 5,000 square feet with a new galley kitchen and restaurant designed for learning, a 2,000-square-foot learning kitchen with 18 stations and an expansion of the existing kitchen. The estimated 5,000 square feet of remodeling will include completion of a food-court design that Brummel started four years ago during the firm's first phase of work at the college. Brummel expects the project to get rolling in January and reach completion in August. Prime contractor bids for the job should hit the streets in mid-December.

Gervase R. Rose

Your honor

Tom Walker, executive director of the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association, won the ARTBA Award from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association for his contributions to help advance the goals of the association. In giving Walker the award, the association specifically cited his expertise in transportation financing and contracting issues. … Gervase R. Rose won the District 4 Man-of-the-Year Award from the National Electrical Contractors Association. Rose, the CEO of Roman Electric Co., Milwaukee, was honored for his industry leadership, continuing contributions to NECA development and his active involvement in a wide variety of civic organizations.

Milestones

Munson Inc., a paving, fence and tennis court contractor in Glendale, is celebrating its 50th anniversary of business this year. The company was founded in 1955.

Peer Review

Adjusting on the fly

Snyder takes new job with Vierbicher

Kids every where walked out of their homes with butterflies in their stomachs as August turned to September.

It’s the traditional butterfly-in-the-stomach time of year. It’s the first day of school. It hits kids going to a new school pretty hard. It hits kids going to a new school in a new state even worse than that.

It’s a cross between nervousness, excitement and trepidation. They don’t know anyone. They don’t know the routine. They don’t even know where their desk will be.

Andy Snyder can relate. On Aug. 30, Snyder walked into the Madison offices of Vierbicher Associates Inc. as the new project engineer in the class.

“Anybody making a move from a different city is going to be anxious about what to expect,” he said. “You’re getting adjusted to the surroundings and the workplace.”

Snyder’s move to Vierbicher was only the second time in his career that he’s had to adjust to a new job. The first was his first job out of college at American Consulting Inc. in Indianapolis. He stayed there for a little more than six and half years before pulling up stakes and moving to Madison.

“I got married in February, and my wife, Sarah, is from Waterloo, Iowa,” he said. “We were looking at different cities, and we thought Madison is a great city. In April, we got serious about the move.”

He left American Consulting on Aug. 24 and started at Vierbicher six days later.

“It took a little adjustment, but it’s going pretty good,” Snyder said.

Adjustments are part of the job for an engineer, and Snyder, 29, is no exception. He makes adjustments as he works through individual projects, and he’s made adjustments as he’s followed his career path.

He graduated from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He said he spent the majority of his studies focused on structural engineering, but an internship with the Illinois Department of Transportation sparked a switch to road building.

When he moved to Indianapolis and started out in American Consulting’s transportation department, he had to adjust to applying his studies to real projects.

“When I started, I did a lot of grunt work,” he said. “I was doing AutoCAD technician work to get my feet wet. For the first five to six months, I was doing a lot of drafting, translating designs and corrections onto electrical documents.”

After about four years of working for project managers, Snyder qualified for and passed the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam to earn his professional engineer license. Suddenly, he had to adjust to a new leadership role as a project manager.

“It was almost like starting a new job,” he said. “You have your own projects, you’re dealing with clients, you’re involved in the project budget, and you’re delegating work.

“I usually did everything on my own, and it was hard to delegate. But at some time, you have to be a mentor to other engineers. It was a challenge at first.”

But, Snyder said, the rewards of the job are worth the effort.

“You get a sense of pride,” he said. “You’re building the nation’s infrastructure. You see something on paper, and then you see it built, and you say, ‘Wow, they built it the way I designed it.’”

But through all the adjustments he’s faced in his career, Snyder has had at least one constant: running. He was a team captain for Bradley’s cross-country squad. He ran a half-marathon in Indianapolis, finishing 10th and winning $600. He’s also found plenty of room to run in Madison.

And maybe Snyder’s philosophy about running has made it a little easier to adjust to the changes that his career throws his way.

“I always take pride in being able to do something that a lot of people can’t do,” he said. “I think the thing with running is you need talent, but you determine how good you’re going to be. It’s a question of if you want to work at it.”

- Chris Thompson

On the horizon

The Watertown Public Works Department is considering a $5 million to $6 million plan to construct a 77,000-square-foot public works facility. ... Ayres Associates Inc., Madison, is working with the Yogi Bear Jellystone Park/Camp on a plan to expand its camping facilities to a neighboring 40-acre site in Koshkonong. ... Gilbane Building Co., Milwaukee, will provide construction-management services for the Forest County Potawatomi if the tribe earns the necessary approvals for an estimated $240 million, 500,000-square-foot expansion of the Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee. ... Engberg Anderson Design Partnership Inc., Milwaukee, is providing design services for an estimated $7.87 million library in downtown Cedarburg. ... Engineer Applied Technologies Inc., Brookfield, is working with the city of Burlington on an estimated $3.5 million expansion of the city’s wastewater-treatment plant. ... Potter Lawson Inc., Madison, is moving forward with its design for an estimated $11 million expansion and renovation project at the University of Wisconsin-Rock County campus in Janesville. ... Engineer Water Technology Inc., Beaver Dam, is working through the approval process for a new city aquatic center and recreation building in West Bend. ... The Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs is entering the design phase for an estimated $6.04 million repair and expansion project of the helicopter parking and taxiways at the Army Aviation Support facility in Madison. ... Hoffman LLC, Greenville, is helping the University of Wisconsin System prepare for an estimated $1.12 million locker room addition to the Wessman Arena on the University of Wisconsin-Superior campus. ... Kunkel Engineering Group LLC, Beaver Dam, is moving into the construction phase of an estimated $1.48 million third-floor renovation of the Dodge County Justice Facility in Juneau. ... Donohue & Associates Inc., Sheboygan, is working with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections on plans for an estimated $2.71 million sanitary-sewer and water-main extension at Sanger Powers Correctional Center in Oneida. ... Zimmerman Design Group Inc., Wauwatosa, has signed on to provide consultant services for a replacement or relocation of Wauwatosa’s Fire Station No. 1. ... The Waukesha County Historical Society & Museum is raising funds for an estimated $4 million Les Paul exhibit within the society’s building in Waukesha. ... Uihlein Wilson Architects Inc., Milwaukee, is working with the University of Wisconsin-Madison on development plans for the university’s lakeshore residence halls. ... JJR LLC, Madison, is designing an estimated $1.97 million parking lot, road and walkway project at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. ... Kee Architecture Inc., Madison, is consulting on an estimated $4.87 million improvement project to the union on the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus. ... Bloom Consultants LLC, Milwaukee, is working with the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh on plans for a new parking ramp on the campus. ... The village of Fontana is planning an estimated $1.6 million improvement project to the village’s lakefront facilities. ... Torke, Wirth, Pujara Ltd., Wauwatosa, is working with developer Kaloti Enterprises Inc., New Berlin, on an estimated $28 million plan for a new Embassy Suites Hotel in the Milwaukee County Research Park in Wauwatosa.

Anton’s Salon & Spa facility in Pewaukee Rendering courtesy of MSI General Corp.

Dotted line

MSI General Corp., Oconomowoc, was selected by Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, Mequon, to design and construct a 7,422-square-foot addition to the church on Riverland Road. MSI also was selected by Anton’s Salon & Spa of Delafield to design and construct a 17,530-square-foot facility in Pewaukee. ... Joe Daniels Construction Co., Madison, won a $1.29 million contract to expand a fire station in Sauk City. ... Monarch Paving Co., Turtle Lake, landed a $1.04 million contract for road and utility work in Rice Lake. ... Ross Peterson Construction, Hurley, will expand Saxon Harbor in Iron County after winning a $2.04 million contract for the job. ... Hegg Contractors Inc., Blair, took home a $1.31 million contract for utility and road construction work in Arcadia. ... Pieper Electric Inc., Milwaukee, won a $9.39 million contract for Concourse D stem improvements at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. ... Roen Salvage Co., Sturgeon Bay, secured a $1.54 million contract for the Sawyer Park dock-wall and dredging project in Sturgeon Bay. ... Scott Construction Inc., Lake Delton, landed a $1.05 million contract for asphalt work on Highway W in Dodge County. ... James Peterson Sons Inc., Medford, won a $1.26 million contract for street and utility work in the Weston Business and Technology Park. ...

William Beaudoin & Sons Inc., Brookfield, will construct streetscape work on East Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee after winning a $2.98 million contract for the job. ... J.F. Brennan Co. Inc., La Crosse, secured a $1.48 million contract for a dredging project in the Oconto River in Oconto. J.F. Brennan also won a $1.72 million contract for lock and dam improvements in Genoa and Lynxville. ... A-1 Excavating Inc., Bloomer, landed a $1.36 million contract for the 2005 street and utility improvement project in Barron. A-1 also won a $2.44 million contract to construct utility improvements in Osceola. ... Miron Construction Co. Inc., Neenah, won a $5.31 million contract to expand a water station and finish a pump station and reservoir in Manitowoc. ... J.P. Cullen & Sons Inc., Janesville, landed a $5.59 million contract to construct the munitions maintenance and storage complex at Truax Air National Guard Base in Madison. Cullen also won an $18.45 million general contract to construct the new Dayton Street Residence Hall for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Hooper Corp., Madison, won a $1.70 million plumbing and fire-protection contract, North American Mechanical Inc., De Forest, won a $3.24 million HVAC contract, and Robert J. Nickles Inc., Madison, won a $3.18 million electrical contract for the residence hall job. ... Ray Stadler Construction Co., Wauwatosa, will construct a pumping station and treatment facility in Germantown after winning a $1.39 million contract for the job. ... Burkhart Construction Corp., Butler, won a $1.02 million contract to construct the Concourse E security checkpoint at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. ... Speedway Sand & Gravel Inc., Middleton, will reconstruct Gilson Street in Madison after winning a $1.09 million contract for the job. ... Staab Construction Corp., Marshfield, landed a $3.54 million contract for a wastewater-treatment plant project in Hammond.

Hot spot

S&L Holding LLC, Brookfield, thinks it will hit its targeted demographic with Rawson Commons. The developer searches out areas that are underserved for convenience and daily needs. It develops quick-stop retail spots, drive-through coffee shops or other retail or commercial developments that people can visit quickly on their way to work. That's just what S&L is doing with Rawson Commons on Rawson Avenue near 76th Street in Franklin. The project, designed by Tim Seidel Architects, Wales, will offer a multitenant retail and commercial center in a 4,200-square-foot building and a neighboring 6,000-square-foot building. Zabest Commercial Group Inc., Brookfield, plans to start construction of the $1.5 million development in mid-October and reach completion by the end of the year. The center still has room for new tenants, with 70 percent of the space committed.

Off the clock

A brush with magic

The Forevertron includes a giant telescope for those who doubt that the sculpture will transport Dr. Evermor to the heavens when he dies. Photo by Chris Thompson

Gilbert Hantzsch didn’t create the Forevertron.

He didn’t design it. He didn’t build it. He wasn’t there when Dr. Evermor began welding together a vast array of scrap metal to turn an idea into the sculpture in 1983.

And Hantzsch probably won’t be sitting in the egg on top of the Forevertron when, if the sculpture’s mythology holds true, it highballs it to the heavens with Dr. Evermor on the day he dies.

But Hantzsch, the team leader and project manager at MSA Professional Services in Baraboo, admired the Forevertron and its surrounding sculptures whenever he had the chance to visit Evermor Park on Highway 12 in North Freedom. He enjoyed the sculpture both for its artistic value and the engineering feat it
represented.

“The thing that always impressed me as an engineer is having all these different materials welded together, and it’s been standing for 22 years,” Hantzsch
said. “It’s like no place else. It’s a world of fantastic.”

Then, in 1999, Hantzsch became a part of the Forevertron’s history. It started out, he said, as a simple request by one of his clients, who had ties to Evermor Park.

Somebody wanted to see if the size, scope and weight of the sculpture would qualify it as the largest scrap-metal sculpture in the world and land it in the Guinness Book of World Records.

“Somebody decided that in order to make it credible, they should get an engineer involved,” he said. “So my client asked if I knew someone who would help, and I said, ‘Yes, I would love to.’”

The hardest part of the job, Hantzsch said, was organizing all the materials Dr. Evermor used to build the Forevertron. There were stray-voltage carriers, spotlights, a giant telescope, a gazebo, catwalks, rail-car ends, dynamos, NASA trailers, a NASA decontamination chamber and a Plexiglas egg, to name just a portion of the structure.

“I measured up the various pieces and their diameters and metal densities,” Hantzsch said. “Some of it was a little more by guess and by gosh.”

But he got all the information down on a spreadsheet, and, in March 1999, sent the information to Guinness. In May 1999, Guinness responded with confirmation that, at 120 feet long by 70 feet deep by 55 feet high and weighing in at 590,993 pounds, the Forevertron was the largest scrap-metal sculpture in the world.

The distinction held for a couple years until Geese in Flight, a sculpture in North Dakota, took the record through size, if not weight.

But with or without a world record, it’s the experience that sticks with Hantzsch.

“Truthfully, it was kind of a dream come true,” he said. “It gave me the opportunity to actually climb on the structure and learn what was there. It got me to use the other side of my brain.”

- Chris Thompson