07/14/2026 CSI Ohio Valley July Lunch Program: Specifying Panelized Metal Wall Systems. tinyurl.com/r88zun84 @MontgomeryInn_ @CSIConstruction

[Lean Construction 101] Visual Management (VM) is the practice of making work, status, and problems visible so the whole team can see what's happening at a glance — no digging through reports required. buff.ly/HsSBADr

Construction input prices increased in May at the fastest annual rate since the pandemic, according to a report from the Associated General Contractors of America. constructiondive.com/news/co…

Digging for history: Ohio archeologists search for previously unknown earthwork - via @AllieVugrincic statenews.org/section/the-oh…

Northern Kentucky's first modern bathhouse is coming to downtown Covington: bit.ly/4eGC4y6

The Fed meets this week, and while it will be the first with Kevin Warsh as chair, it is tough to see any significant changes to monetary policy. The Fed is stuck between surging inflation, which argues for rate hikes, and a soft job market, which argues for cuts, thus no change. One likely tweak will be to remove the easing bias in the last meeting’s statement.

08/11/2026 CSI Ohio Valley August Lunch Program: Biophilic Design & The Impact of Thermally Modified (TM) Wood in the US Parks & Recreation and Outdoor Spaces Categories. tinyurl.com/4zbvmk57 @CSIConstruction @csiglr @MontgomeryInn_

11/10/2026 CSI Ohio Valley Chapter Educon: Sponsors & Presenters Needed! tinyurl.com/496f5vyr @CSIConstruction @csiglr @design_ohio @MontgomeryInn_

07/14/2026 CSI Ohio Valley July Lunch Program: Specifying Panelized Metal Wall Systems. tinyurl.com/r88zun84 @MontgomeryInn_ @CSIConstruction

Confidence among US homebuilders slipped in June, dragged down by rising mortgage rates and materials costs, as well as a sharp drop in sentiment across the South bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

The mixed-use project will stand seven stories tall on the former World Peace Bell site. bizjournals.com/cincinnati/n…

UC will get $30 million from the state for a $105 million project. bizjournals.com/cincinnati/n…

Building enclosure commissioning: Defining and specifying an effective BECx scope buff.ly/jiweqto #buildingenclosure #buildingenclosurecommissioningbecx #division01 #enclosurecommissioning #leed #projectoutcome

11/10/2026 CSI Ohio Valley Chapter Educon: Sponsors & Presenters Needed! tinyurl.com/496f5vyr @CSIConstruction @csiglr @design_ohio @MontgomeryInn_

“The tunnel has been a major priority." bizjournals.com/cincinnati/n…

A rare look at how an architectural idea survived on paper — and was echoed decades later in stone. Gaudí’s early vision for the narthex of the Sagrada Família’s Passion Façade shows the dramatic, almost skeletal structure he imagined for this side of the basilica. Built long after his death, the façade was later developed by other architects and artists, including sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs, whose angular figures gave it its intense modern expression.

He died looking like a homeless man. Passersby walked past him for hours before anyone helped. He was the most celebrated architect in Catalonia, and he had spent his final years living in the construction site of a church that would take 144 years to complete. Antoni Gaudí took over the Sagrada Família in 1883, when it was barely a crypt and some foundations. No government funding. No guaranteed timeline. It ran entirely on donations from ordinary Catalans, collected coin by coin. For 43 years, he worked on nothing else. After losing those closest to him, he stepped back from the world. The architect who wore tailored suits and attended political rallies gave up meat, gave up socializing, and moved into a workshop inside the construction site. He slept there and ate almost nothing. He walked to evening prayer every day. His design approach was unlike anything before him. He hung chains from a board, photographed the natural curve upside-down, and built his arches in that exact shape. A hanging chain naturally makes the strongest arch shape possible, sending weight straight down with no side supports needed. He studied bat wings, sea shells, and bones. There are no straight lines in the Sagrada Família. Every column and arch doubles as decoration. By 1926, after 43 years of work, less than a quarter of the building was finished. He had 17 more towers to build. “My client is not in a hurry,” he said. On June 7, 1926, at 6:05 in the evening, a tram hit him while he walked to confession. He was 73, wearing threadbare clothes, carrying no identification. He fell in the street, and no one stopped. Passersby assumed he was a vagrant. A nearby doctor eventually found him and had him taken to Hospital de la Santa Creu, Barcelona’s paupers’ hospital. His friends found him the next morning and tried to move him to a private room. He refused. He died there three days later. Ten years after his death, anarchists burned his workshop during the Spanish Civil War. His plans, models, and calculations were destroyed. Architects spent decades rebuilding them from photographs and fragments. Ground broke in 1882. On February 20, 2026, the central tower of the Sagrada Família reached its full height of 172.5 meters, making it the tallest church in the world, exactly 100 years after his death. Interior work and the Glory Facade are still ongoing. Final completion is expected in the 2030s. The Eiffel Tower took 2 years. The Empire State Building took 14 months. He is buried in the crypt of the Sagrada Família.

Notre Dame is rebuilt, Sagrada Família is finished, now the Vatican should raise money to build a new basilica somewhere in Western Europe and host an architectural competition to design it:

After 144 years of construction, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia is finally complete. The iconic basilica, designed by architect Antoni Gaudí and considered one of the most ambitious architectural projects in modern history, was shaped by Gaudí for 43 years before his death exactly 100 years ago, when he was struck by a tram while the church was still far from finished. In the final years of his life, Gaudí lived on the construction site and devoted himself almost entirely to the project. At the time of his death, only about 10% to 15% of the basilica had been completed, leaving future generations with the monumental task of carrying out his vision. A century later, that vision has finally become reality.

Groundbreaking on Commonwealth Center for Biomedical Excellence - via Dany Villarreal Martinez wvxu.org/local-news/2026-06-…