New Building, Thriving Downtown Give Racine Better Identity

"In an age of McMansions and teardowns, "green" builders are at the forefront of a heartening trend in architecture: environmentally sensitive design. That covers everything from maximizing natural light and minimizing heating and cooling loads to using recycled materials and wood from sustainable forests and reclaiming worn-out industrial sites.The new Johnson Building, which takes up an entire square block in the heart of this old lakefront city, does all of that beautifully. What it doesn't do is let the project's cutting-edge technology find structural expression in the public face of the building. That's a disconnect common to many green buildings, including Johnson Controls' Brengel Technology Center in Milwaukee."