Wisconsin Builder | Top 20 Projects of 2001

Everyone’s a winner

By Chris Thompson
Editor at large

Chris Thompson
Editor at large

We’ve been running our annual top projects competition for several years now, and it gets harder to judge each year.

We blame you for that. You are the ones who keep sending in top-notch projects that highlight the best this industry has to offer.

You are the people who face countless hurdles - both large and small - every single day on the site. And yet you are also the people who tackle those challenges and deliver shining structures that are tributes not just to the owners but to the engineers, architects, contractors and laborers who put it all together.

This year, we received 100 top-project submittals from construction and architectural firms in each corner of the state. And every project deserved recognition as a top project.

We pored over entries featuring hospitals, prisons, commercial offices, theaters and golf courses. Our judging ranged from the largest, most high-profile projects to the smallest jobs nestled in areas where no one but the owner will ever see them.

But in the end, we had to limit our awards to the top 20, the best of the best. The projects featured in the following pages exemplify the extraordinary skill, patience, perseverance and integrity needed to not just finish a job but to bring it to a sweeping conclusion that makes people want to stand up and cheer.

Among the projects you’ll read about are the state Capitol restoration, the design/build work on the GE Medical Systems campus in Waukesha, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Mayfair Mall expansion and a private residence in Fish Creek. We featured work at St. Boniface Episcopal Church in Mequon, the Brown County Juvenile Detention Center, the Hedberg Library at Carthage College and the Milwaukee Police Department’s 3rd District Communications Operation Center.

Each year we review projects for the annual competition is a learning experience for us. We learn how good this industry is at what it does. We learn that beauty isn’t just on the outside of a completed project but in every detail of every day over the course of a job.

So enjoy reading of your accomplishments, and consider this issue of Wisconsin Builder our way of saying thanks for jobs well done.