Building Design & Construction articles from April 2009

Building Design & Construction archives from April 2009

Best AEC Firms to Work For.
April 1, 2009... Staff Past Winners 2006 FreemanWhite Hnedak Bobo Group McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. Shawmut Design and Construction Walter P Moore 2007 Anshen+Allen Arup Bovis Lend Lease Cannon...

Creating a Culture of Performance.(Commodore Builders)
April 1, 2009... Dave Barista, Managing Editor In the ultra-competitive world of commercial construction, where many builders can trace their heritage back 50, 100, even 150 years, Newton, Mass.-based Commodore Builders is just another new kid on the...

Two Decades of Employee Ownership.
April 1, 2009... Jay W. Schneider, Senior Editor On December 31, 1988, as employees at KCI were ringing in the New Year, they were also celebrating the purchase of their engineering firm just weeks earlier from the British holding company Hanson Trust PLC....

Hardcore Training Pays Off Big Time.
April 1, 2009... Dave Barista, Managing Editor When it comes to employee training and development, few AEC firms can say they rank with the likes of Microsoft, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and other Fortune 500 giants. Boston-based contractor Suffolk...

BIM + IPD Three Success Stories.
April 1, 2009... By Jeff Yoders, Senior Associate Editor As design and construction budgets shrink and clients demands for quicker, more efficient design and delivery continue to escalate, many architecture and construction firms are embracing integrated...

Rutgers University visitor center will be off the grid.
April 1, 2009... Staff Employing an array of electricity-generating solar reflectors as well as geothermal technology for heating and cooling, the 12,000-sf Welcome Center at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., will be completely off the grid....

Rush's butterfly-shaped replacement hospital set to open in 2012.(Rush University Medical Center)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff Topped with a series of green roofs, Rush University Medical Center's $575 million, 806,000-sf replacement facility will be Chicago's first full-service green hospital upon completion in 2012. Designed by Perkins+Will, Chicago, the...

Austin's tallest hits halfway mark.(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff Construction has reached the midway point for the Austonian, a 56-story, 850,000-sf high-rise residential and retail project in Austin, Texas. At 683 feet, the tower will be the tallest building in Austin, as well as the tallest...

Mega waterfront development planned in Jordan.(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff Seattle-based Callison has been selected as master planner for the conceptual phase of a massive waterfront development in Aqaba, Jordan. Upon completion, the $10 billion Marsa Zayed project, developed by Al Maabar Jordan...

Charleston landmark will get new life as R&D lab.(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff The South Carolina Research Authority, the Medical University of South Carolina, and the City of Charleston, S.C., are teaming to convert a Charleston historic landmark building into a research and laboratory facility for biomedical...

Trenton to get LEED Platinum Class A office tower.(Developer Capital Real Estate Group and architect RMJM design for Vista Center)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff Developer Capital Real Estate Group and architect RMJM have unveiled the design for Vista Center, a 25-story, LEED Platinum office tower in Trenton, N.J.--the city's largest commercial development in decades. The 700,000-sf...

Vibrant elementary school to go up in the Bronx.(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff A coloful design of brick, terra cotta, and glass will make up the exterior of a new 95,000-sf elementary and middle school in the Bronx. The building's curving form follows the property line and required prototypical room layouts to...

Brookhaven College breaks ground on continuing education building.(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff Construction has commenced on the $6 million, 28,500-sf Workforce and Continuing Education Building at Brookhaven College in Dallas. Local architect SHW Group designed the building with the goal of providing a home for programs that...

Replacement hospital designed to enhance staff efficiency.(Hord Coplan Macht contracts with Western Maryland Health System)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff Baltimore-based architect Hord Coplan Macht is leading a multi-disciplinary team designing a $268 million, 598,000-sf replacement hospital for Western Maryland Health System in Cumberland, Md. The first three levels of this 275-bed...

Energy labels may be key to saving energy.
April 1, 2009... Robert Cassidy, Editor-in-Chief The U.S. needs more research into high-risk energy-related technologies, and the Energy Department is the right agency to lead it. The DOE has a dozen national labs that employ thousands of highly qualified...

Bluebeam and Adapx cut AEC paper workflows.
April 1, 2009... By Jeff Yoders, Senior Associate Editor Building Teams looking for fast, easy, paperless ways to submit change orders, finish punch lists, and automate other mundane tasks might take a look at Bluebeam's PDF Revu 7 and Adapx's Capturx...

Cupcake bakery's sweet design.(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff When planning the MORE cupcake boutique in Chicago's Gold Coast, designers at David Woodhouse Architects LLC had only 550 sf in which to add the necessary ingredients to the specialty bakery: a full kitchen, display and sales space,...

West Point opens first new academic building in 35 years.(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff The nation's oldest service academy, West Point, has opened a state-of-the-art library and learning center on the United States Military Academy's fabled Hudson Valley campus in New York--its first new academic building in 35 years....

Medical campus adds women's center.(Forsyth Women's Center built by Batson-Cook )(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff Batson-Cook completed the $30 million Northside Forsyth Women's Center in Cumming, Ga., the 10th project the firm has constructed in the Northside Forsyth medical campus. The three-story, 108,000-sf facility, which is connected to...

Daytona's Ocean Center gets the green flag.(Daytona Ocean Center)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff Construction is complete on the Daytona Ocean Center's $76 million expansion. Situated along the A1A scenic coastal byway, the expanded convention center includes more than 200,000 sf of interior space for meetings, conventions,...

Pelli-designed business school opens at University of Illinois.(Gilbane Building Company contracts with University of Illinois)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff Gilbane Building Company has completed construction on the 164,000-sf Business Instructional Facility at the University of Illinois, Champaign. The building accommodates the MBA, undergraduate affairs, and accounting programs, as...

Historic law library gets makeover.
April 1, 2009... Staff Ranked by the AIA as one of America's 150 great works of architecture, the University of Michigan's William W. Cook Legal Research Building has recently undergone lighting upgrades and a ceiling restoration. The landmark Reading Room...

Rural library has renewable energy.
April 1, 2009... Staff The Finksburg Branch Library in Carroll County, Md., is the community's first green building. Designed by the Lukmire Partnership, the 15,000-sf building has a geothermal heating system, a solar-powered hot water system, and is...

UC Berkeley opens CITRIS research building.(University of California)(Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff The University of California, Berkeley, in February celebrated the opening and dedication of Sutardja Dai Hall, a 141,000-sf, $138 million facility that serves as the new headquarters for the Center for Information Technology...

AEC experts blast NAIOP efficiency study; NAIOP responds.(Energy-Efficient Economy )
April 1, 2009... Staff Controversy continues to dog a February report released by NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association. The study, conducted by ConSol, a California-based independent energy-modeling firm, concluded that reaching a 30%...

RSMeans cost comparisons.
April 1, 2009... Staff [TABLE OMITTED]

Rising office vacancy rates will level off in mid-2010.
April 1, 2009... Jim Haughey, PhD, BD+C Economist and Chief Economist, Reed Construction Data The national office vacancy rate increased two points last year to 16.8% by the end of 2008, according to Property & Portfolio Research. Office rental rates fell...

Letter to The Editor.
April 1, 2009... Staff Disappointed BD+C readers Everyone in our office is extremely disappointed in BD+C for its article on the NAIOP study regarding the feasibility of achieving high levels of energy efficiency in a cost-effective manner. BD+C...

Insulating metal-faced sandwich panels.
April 1, 2009... Staff Rigid foam for use in metal-faced sandwich panels combines the thermal insulation properties of conventional polyurethane (PUR) foam with the enhanced fire resistance of polyisocyanurate (PIR). Voratherm has passed the standard...

Tackable wall panel.(Homasote )(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Staff Prefinished interior paneling from Homasote is comprised of Guilford of Maine FR 701 fabric laminated to Homasote's 440 SoundBarrier fiberboard, creating a cost-effective, green interior tackable wall panel. The DesignWall 440 line...

Toxin-free, fire-rated glass.
April 1, 2009... Staff Fire-rated ceramic glass is free of toxins and hazardous heavy metals. Pyran Platinum is available in laminated and filmed versions that meet CPSC Cat. II impact safety (the highest federal impact safety requirement) and fully comply...

Wireless wall box controller.
April 1, 2009... Staff Watt Stopper/Legrand has launched a 0-10-volt wall box controller that can be used to dim or switch lighting loads or raise and lower shades. The DRLV1 controller is the first such device to include an input allowing automatic...

Durable stainless-steel roof.
April 1, 2009... Staff Follansbee TCS II is an architectural stainless-steel roof coated with Follansbee's patented ZT (zinc/tin) alloy. ZT alloy is an electrochemically bonded coating of tin and zinc applied uniformly to both sides of Type 304 stainless...

Hardwood flooring from eucalyptus trees.
April 1, 2009... Staff Engineered, single-strip hardwood flooring features a wear layer made from fast-growing eucalyptus trees grown on sustainably certified plantations in Brazil. Lyptus is harder than oak, less expensive than walnut, as beautiful as...

Pre-finished gypsum board.
April 1, 2009... Staff Enhanced gypsum board line features a smooth, pre-applied surface coating that helps reduce the amount of field-applied finishing required. The coating also provides an enhanced level of abrasion-resistance to minimize jobsite damage...

School Re-roofs with Low-odor Asphalt.
April 1, 2009... Jay W. Schneider, Senior Editor Jeff McMenamy's newest roofing job is also the largest one on which he's using TrueLo Max Lo Odor, a new low-fuming asphalt from Owens Corning for built-up roofing systems. McMenamy is general manager of...

'Technology is changing the face of the workplace'.
April 1, 2009... Staff Bernice M. Boucher joined DEGW, an international design consultancy specializing in work and learning environments, in 2008 as director of North American operations. Previously, she served as workplace strategist for Deutsche Bank in...

Elevator Safety: 10 Tips for Building Teams.
April 1, 2009... Staff At the core of any multi-story building is a safe, reliable mode of vertical transportation. Most building occupants take elevators--and escalators--for granted, but they are among the most complex mechanical systems in a building....

Acrylic Block Walls 'Purrrfect' for Cat Clinic.
April 1, 2009... Jay W. Schneider, Senior Editor While Dr. Elizabeth Colleran, DVM, has operated a successful cat hospital in Chico, Calif., for a number of years, a while back she decided to open a second feline clinic, this time in the Pacific Northwest,...

Windows + Doors.
April 1, 2009... By C.C. Sullivan and Barbara Horwitz-Bennett Daylighting, Passive Solar, and Energy Modeling Windows are among the most desirable features of most building types, welcoming in natural light, linking to the outdoors, and serving as an...