Matthew Chalifoux, principal with EYP Architecture & Engineering, based in Albany, N.Y., is hopeful that when the ongoing “greening” and fire safety project at the Birch Bayh Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in downtown Indianapolis is completed, “you won’t be able to tell what we’ve done.” The $69.3-million Birch Bayh Federal Building project, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is providing work for nearly two dozen companies. Much of the work is being performed behind the scenes. It’s a primarily behind-the-scenes project, which is why Chalifoux won’t mind if the general public doesn’t notice. The $69.3-million project, funded

In 1947, a visionary named Eero Saarinen won an architectural competition to design what would become his best-known structure, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Photo: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial A landmark project will breathe new life into the riverfront park 630 ft below the top of the St. Louis Arch. In September, the winner of a similar competition will be revealed. This time, the landmark project will breathe new life into the riverfront park 630 ft below the top of Saarinen�s famous stainless steel, inverted catenary arch. Five international teams have made it to the finals of the juried

In late April, southern Missouri�s 440-megawatt Taum Sauk hydroelectric plant began generating power for the first time since December 2005, when an old dam gave way and more than a billion gallons of water rushed down the side of Proffitt Mountain through the popular Johnson�s Shut-Ins State Park below. Photo courtesy of AmerenUE Power utility AmerenUE awarded a joint venture Ozark Constructors LLC the contract to rebuild the pumped-storage reservoir using roller-compacted concrete. Power utility AmerenUE awarded a joint venture named Ozark Constructors LLC the contract to rebuild the pumped-storage reservoir�this time using roller-compacted concrete (RCC), which has become an

Is there room at the inn? Odds are, yes, there is room…too much room. That means there’s less need for more rooms—and what’s bad for the hotel business is equally bad for the construction industry. Photo: Steve Kaelble / Midwest Construction The new JW Marriott Hotel in Indianapolis is one of just a few large hotel projects going on in the Midwest. At 34 stories, it is the tallest hotel in Indiana. The statistics tell a grim story. U.S. hotel occupancy rates have been dropping since 2007, and by the fourth quarter of 2009 they had hit 50.6%, according to

The new Milestone hospital renovation and construction project in Peoria, Ill., built two new hospitals, renovated parts of an existing building, and tied the three together into one large unit. Photo: Children’s Hospital of Illinois The Children’s Hospital of Illinois section of the new and renovated hospital complex features several sections set at different levels. Photo: OSF St. Francis Hospital A view of what will be the new front of the hospital shows the building’s complex exterior, which blends precast concrete with different curtainwall systems. It’s a whole lot easier to land a helicopter if you don’t have to navigate