Building Design & Construction articles from August 2005

Building Design & Construction archives from August 2005

Should we reward 'doing good'?(EDITORIAL)
August 1, 2005... Two years ago, my wife and I bought a new Toyota Prius, in part to do something good for the environment (her reason), in part because it turned heads (my rationale). It's been a lot of fun. Just don't expect to get 60 mpg unless you drive like...

Wal-Mart goes green with sustainable store.(NEWS & TRENDS)
August 1, 2005... On July 20, retail giant Wal-Mart t opened a prototype supercenter in the Dallas suburb of McKinney, Texas, that relies heavily on sustainable design and green technology. The store--and a nearly identical big box in Aurora, Colo., set to...

Anshen+Allen LA becomes CO Architects.(NEWS & TRENDS)
August 1, 2005... The Los Angeles office of Anshen+Allen has broken all ties with its namesake company and changed its name to CO Architects. Anshen+Allen, a San-Francisco-based architecture firm founded in 1939, has more than 450 employees, with additional...

Shen Milsom & Wilke.(PEOPLE/firms)
August 1, 2005... New York-based Shen Milsom & Wilke has promoted long-time associate principal Ben Houghton to director of acoustic services. Houghton succeeds the late Denis Milsom.

HGA Architects & Engineers.(PEOPLE/firms)
August 1, 2005... Marc Davidson has joined the Los Angeles office of HGA Architects & Engineers as associate vice president and project manager A healthcare specialist, Davidson previously worked for Cannon Design and NBBJ.

KKE Architects.(PEOPLE/firms)
August 1, 2005... KKE Architects, Minneapolis, has named Douglas Ahlstrom senior associate and director of housing for the western region. Based in KKE's newly opened Las Vegas office, Ahlstrom will focus on single- and multifamily housing projects.

St. Louis, Mo.-based McCarthy Holding Cos. has formed MC Industrial, an independent company focused on industrial construction projects in a variety of market sectors, including automotive, aerospace, environmental, manufacturing, power, and pre-engineered buildings.(PEOPLE/firms)
August 1, 2005... St. Louis, Mo.-based McCarthy Holding Cos. has formed MC Industrial, an independent company focused on industrial construction projects in a variety of market sectors, including automotive, aerospace, environmental, manufacturing, power, and...

Will design for food.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2005... just read Dees Stribling's article, "The War for Talent: The Giants 300 firms are battling to find and keep the troops they need to stay combat-ready for today's explosive market." (July 2005, p. 74). As an older architect with a lot of...

Prison boycotter speaks out.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2005... In response to ADPSR's call for design professionals not to work on prisons, Gerald Gurland, FAIA, takes us to task (BD&C, June, p. 10) both because our prison design boycott may not be effective and because if it were we should be boycotting...

Clarifications.(Correction Notice)
August 1, 2005... Nelson, Philadelphia, and S/L/A/M Collaborative, Glastonbury, Conn., were mistakenly omitted from BD&C's Giants 300 report. Nelson would have ranked #38 on our top 50 Architect/Engineers list, with $23.50 million in billings. S/L/A/M would have...

Stylish shopping in the city by the bay.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
August 1, 2005... The Westfield San Francisco Centre entered its final phase of construction this summer. The project will include over one million square feet of shops, restaurants, and entertainment, including a five-story Bloomingdale's, second in size only...

Cleveland will hear the sound of much more music.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
August 1, 2005... Cleveland-based Donley's Inc. was selected for the expansion and renovation project for the Cleveland Institute of Music. The design/build and general contracting firm will complete a $20 million, 36,000-sf addition to the facility that will...

Urban elements fit in San Diego mixed-use.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
August 1, 2005... Dallas-based Centex Construction will complete a mixed-use community structure in San Diego's East Village in early 2006. The Element building will feature 65 residential units and five unique floor plans ranging from 500 to 900 sf in size. The...

A truly Thai hotel.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
August 1, 2005... The team of Breennan Beer Gorman Architects and Tandem Architects has designed the Siam Kepinski Hotel & Residences in Bangkok. The hotel, due for completion in 2008, combines modern linear and vertical expressions with traditional Thai design...

70-bed regional medical center under way in Alaska.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
August 1, 2005... Located 50 miles north of Anchorage, the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough is scheduled to open early next year. Ascension Group Architects, of Arlington, Texas, designed the nearly 215,000-sf hospital to replace...

Comfort and luxury in the Arizona desert.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
August 1, 2005... A $100 million mixed-use development is under way on 10 acres in Chandler, Ariz. The Elevation Chandler project, due for completion in 2007, will combine hospitality, retail, recreation, office, and residential units with the 243room...

Hike in tax collections leads to more schools.(INDUSTRY DATA)
August 1, 2005... A surge in April and May spending brought construction activity for education facilities, adjusted for inflation, up to the early 2002 peak reached in the last building cycle. Accelerated expansion is expected into 2007. The turnabout is...

Multifamily construction to outpace single-family work.(INDUSTRY DATA)
August 1, 2005... Market fundamentals for both apartments and condos have strengthened and will stay positive through next year. This while the single-family market has peaked with starts expected to decline about 10% in the next 18 months. Apartment...

Construction materials price index continues its four-month slide.(INDUSTRY DATA)
August 1, 2005... The construction materials price index declined in June to 1.5% below the February peak level, but the index is still 3.6% higher than a year earlier. Prices for lumber, sheet metal, steel, plumbing fixtures, and sheet metal products fell...

Cost comparisons per square foot in select metro markets.(INDUSTRY DATA)
August 1, 2005... Cost comparisons per square foot in select metro markets Elementary school '05 '04 % chg. Atlanta 92.83 86.99 6.7 Baltimore ...

Architectural desktop 2006: more than just an upgrade.(INFORMATION TECH)
August 1, 2005... It has become tradition for Autodesk to announce a new version of AutoCAD and its sidekick Autodesk Architectural Desktop at its annual winter conference and then release the products the following spring. This year was no exception, as AutoCAD...

Next-Gen convention centers: in the dog-eat-dog world of events marketing, today's convention centers must be designed to satisfy ever-escalating customer demands.(EVENTS FACILITIES)(Cover Story)
August 1, 2005... Douglas Ducate laughs when he recalls how simple the convention center industry used to be, when all cities had to do was throw up a "box with some docks" to become a viable destination. As president and CEO of the Chicago-based Center for...

Campus centerpiece: Dutch architect Wiel Arets provides a monolithic place of contemplation--and community--for students at the University of Utrecht.(UNIVERSITY LIBRARY--UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS)
August 1, 2005... The Uithof university campus southeast of Utrecht is famous far beyond the borders of the Netherlands for its modern architecture. Over the years, a number of spectacular buildings had been created in a loose arrangement. Based on a master plan...

Swiss eye-opener: motorized louvers at Santiago Calatrava's new law school faculty library at Zurich University let just the right amount of daylight shine through.(UNIVERSITY LIBRARY--ZURICH, SWITZERLAND)
August 1, 2005... For decades, the growing needs of Zurich University were met by structures erected on the outskirts of the city. In recent times, however, attempts have been made to increase the density o[ the existing facilities in the historical university...

A study in organics: wrapped in an amoeba-shaped double-skin facade, a new media center blends wild forms and bold colors to energize a university campus.(UNIVERSITY LIBRARY--COTTBUS, GERMANY)
August 1, 2005... Designed by the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron, the amoeba-shaped building has a wide range of functions. In addition to housing books and other media for Brandenburg Technical University in Cottbus, Germany, it accommodates the campus computer...

Harmonic partnerships: savvy school districts nationwide are partnering with community organizations to build and operate upscale multipurpose performing arts spaces.(PERFORMING ARTS CENTERS)
August 1, 2005... Picture yourself a student at the newly renovated and expanded Deer Path Middle School in Lake Forest, Ill.: First thing in the morning, your music teacher ushers you down the hall into the school theater. You walk through a set of elegant...

Reinventing modular construction: long the province of education and temporary office buildings, modular construction is capturing an increasingly larger share of commercial, institutional, and government work.(BUILDING TECHNOLOGY)
August 1, 2005... After being awarded the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, Salt Lake City organizers needed more than 800 support buildings for a wide variety of uses, including press and communications areas, seating, hospitality suites, ticket booths, hospitality...

Quilted beauty: an intricate masonry scheme turns a black-box theater into a campus showpiece.(BRICK CONSTRUCTION)
August 1, 2005... A architect's dream at the drafting board can oftentimes turn into a contractor's nightmare during execution. But in the case of the stylish brick exterior of the black-box theater at Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, Mass., it...

Amenities aplenty: Gensler puts London-based Clifford Chance in an opulent setting that bespeaks the client's position at the top of the legal ladder.(INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE)
August 1, 2005... With 3,700 legal advisers in 28 offices in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, Clifford Chance holds the distinction of being the world's largest law firm. For its one-million-sf Canary Wharf headquarters in London, the firm...

Dokaflex 1-2-4 concrete floor formwork system.(The Professional's Choice)
August 1, 2005... Manufactured by Doka Industries, Amstetten, Austria, and distributed by Doka USA, Little Ferry, N.J., Dokaflex 1-2-4 is a hand-operated concrete floor formwork system for floor slabs of virtually any shape and size. The formwork can be used as...

Glare reducer.(PRODUCTS AT WORK)
August 1, 2005... JFK International Airport in New York handles nearly 32 million passengers a year. To reduce glare in International Air Terminal #4, 38 panels of Thermal View Plus Glare Reducer window treatments with UV inhibitors were installed in the east...

MSU's resilient roofing.(PRODUCTS AT WORK)
August 1, 2005... More than 30 years after installing the first protected membrane roof system with Styrofoam on campus, Michigan State University has over 161 buildings that feature the PMR with Styrofoam system. In the durable system, Styrofoam extruded...

Windows aid CMU students in solar decathlon.(PRODUCTS AT WORK)
August 1, 2005... The challenge: To design a house that generates enough on-site solar energy to operate a household and home-based business and provide for transportation. The solution: energy-efficient products, such as NX-200 NexGen Casement Windows. Traco...

Spectrally selective window film.(PRODUCTS AT WORK)
August 1, 2005... When students began complaining of uncomfortable overheating in the University of Colorado's campus buildings, the Campus Resource Energy Conservation Office took action. Along with energy-system efficiency upgrades, the university installed...

Lions and tigers and skylights, oh my!(PRODUCTS AT WORK)
August 1, 2005... During the retrofitting of the Florence Mila Borchert Big Cat Country exhibit at the Milwaukee Zoo, the Building Team had to meet both the health needs of the cats and the thermal envelope energy requirements of the Wisconsin climate. Nanogel...

Custom composite column forms.(PRODUCTS AT WORK)
August 1, 2005... Construction of the New Central Library in downtown Minneapolis called for some 400 columns, each 19 feet in height, on the facility's exterior. Custom composite round column forms made of fiberglass-reinforced thermoset composite were used to...

A brand new way to navigate.(EDITORS' PICKS)
August 1, 2005... Create customized maps of development zones and property locations by choosing the center of the map with the Rand McNally CustomView Wall Maps system. These street detail wall maps can be created and ordered through the online custom mapmaking...

The lotus effect.(EDITORS' PICKS)
August 1, 2005... New to the North American market, Lotusan exterior coating mirrors the natural behavior of a lotus plant as hydrophobic qualities let dirt glide off the surface along with water. This "self-cleaning" property creates an exterior wall that is...

Recessed radiance.(EDITORS' PICKS)
August 1, 2005... New line of fluorescent Indy brand downlights and wallwashers designed for maximum light output with minimal glare. Uses reduced light output at higher viewing angles and a satin-finish cone to enhance architectural details of interiors. ...

Decorative wall panel.(EDITORS' PICKS)
August 1, 2005... Fiberglass-reinforced plastic wall and ceiling panels are available in three lightly textured finishes--sandstone, linen, and cedar--and in nine pastel and earth tone colors. Varietex provides a decorative yet durable finish "front of the...

Anchor system.(EDITORS' PICKS)
August 1, 2005... After analyzing the loadings and reactions at a window placement site, Blast Window Retention Anchor Systems are customized to reinforce the space. Made with a steel bar enclosed in a mesh fabric sleeve, the system is inserted into the masonry...

One tough bubbler.(EDITORS' PICKS)
August 1, 2005... Stainless-steel drinking fountain uses a vandal-proof design and is built for heavy-use environments. The 14-cjauge Slimline fountain incorporates a larger contour-formed basin that reduces spray. Automatic stream is front-adjustable from 20 to...

Storm windows.(EDITORS' PICKS)
August 1, 2005... Prolift Channel Glass System is approved for use in hurricane zones. Laminating polycarbonate to the inside of the channel surface increased the impact performance of the system during testing in Florida. Glass fractured but did not shatter...

Light up a path or patio.(EDITORS' PICKS)
August 1, 2005... SensiTile uses external light sources and conducting technology found in fiber optics to create a surface material that reacts to changes in light intensity and colors. Available with acrylic polymer, concrete, and resin substrates....

Cool shades.(EDITORS' PICKS)
August 1, 2005... SuperPersianas window fixtures can roll vertically and tilt horizontally, giving them the ability to block 85% of the sun's radiant energy. Remote-controlled fixtures are now available, and can be programmed to follow the path of the sun during...

Scenery and security.(EDITORS' PICKS)
August 1, 2005... Terra Swing Series of terrace doors combines the scenery of terrace views with the security of its multipoint locking options. Accommodates glass thickness up to 1 1/2 inches and is offered in 3 1/4-inch and 4 1/2-inch framing depths. Handles...

Sustainable carpets.(EDITORS' PICKS)
August 1, 2005... Sustainable carpets from the Viso Collection contain 51.8% recycled and renewable content by weight, 20% of which is post-consumer recycled content and 12.4% is rapidly renewable bio-based resin. Available in three designs and 12 colors. ...

HOK's William Valentine, FAIA: 'I'm on to less'.(THOUGHT LEADERS)(Interview)
August 1, 2005... Bill Valentine joined Hellmuth, Obata + PKassabaum (#1 on BD&C's Giants 300 list of A/E firms for 2005) shortly after earning his MArch from Harvard 43 years ago. He became president of the 1,885-employee, St. Louis-based firm in 2000 and was...

GAF's spec central helps architects and specifiers.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... GAF's Spec Central helps architects and specifiers (and even property owners with in-house design departments) to take the frustration and guesswork out of specifying a new low- or steep-slope roof. Spec Central includes SpecWizard, a...

United metal products' Chil-Pak[R] package central Plant.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... The Chil Pak[R] is a true "Plug and Play" for applications from 150 to 540 tons. The Chil Pak[R] brings all the variables associated with the engineering and construction of a typical central plant into an energy and space efficient cabinet....

High-density mobile storage.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... Spacesaver's high-density mobile storage continues to solve floor space, economic and safety problems in virtually every facility. The simple concept of eliminating multiple aisles and using carriages that move dramatically increases storage...

Custom made--folding and roll-up doors.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... Woodfold's accordion and roll-up doors serve multiple functions. Each is custom made to exactly fit your finished opening. Our accordion folding doors are offered in a variety of Series suitable for sight, acoustic, or security applications....

Tjernlund draft, combustion air & ventilation resource CD.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... Resource CD contains 1000's of pages of useful information including; brochures, spec sheets, performance curves, installation/service instructions, wiring diagrams, parts breakdown/cross reference, product photos and more. Bonus features...

Waterway drainable stucco assembly.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... Features enhanced drainage with moisture evacuation cavity complete with Stuc-o-Flex--America's finest elastomeric acrylic finish. Put some space between your building & the elements. Superior cladding technology. 1-800-305-1045;...

Crystallized glass ceramic architectural panels.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... Neopariesa and Neopariesa LT are lighter yet stronger than granite Commonly used for cladding interior and exterior walls, flooring, and counter or tabletops, they are virtually impermeable and not subject to freeze-thaw damage, penetration by...

Embracing green in division 10.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... InPro Corporation, the first company in the nation to produce and market sustainable wall protection products with the launch of its EnviroGT[TM] line of award-winning recycled products in 2001, has now expanded the line to include bamboo,...

Quality brick--hundreds of colors.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... Since 1885 The Belden Brick Company has been Omaking brick in hundreds of colors, sizes and textures. Throughout these years, Belden has established and sustained a widely recognized reputation for the quality of its products. Architects and...

Welding of open web Steel Joists.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... The Steel Joist Institute offers Technical Digest #8 about the welding of open web steel joists. It includes criteria for inspecting joist welds, a method for determining weld strengths, and graphs and tables correlating material sizes with...

illbruck's Squareline[R] metal ceiling tiles.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... SQUARELINE Metal Ceiling Tiles add c modern, high-tech look to entries, convention centers, stadiums, restaurants and more. Now available in three patterns--SQUARELINEstandard[TM], SQUARELINEmedium[TM] and the new SQUARELINEultra[TM]--these...

Roofing-an important point for LEED[R] certification.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... Reflective roofing, such as Sarnafil's EnergySmart Roof[R], or a "green", vegetated roof using a Sarnafil Green Roof System, qualify for one point in the LEED rating system under Sustainable Sites Credit 7. A solar integrated roofing system can...

Perform-A-Deck[R].(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... Martin Fireproofing provides the "turnkey" Perform-A-Deck[R] roof deck system with high acoustical and thermal insulation, an approved substrate for the roofing system and a temporary dry-m Perform-A-Shield[R] membrane. The complete system is...

Charlotte Pipe & foundry ChemDrain[TM] Corzan[R] CPVC Chemical Waste Drain System technical manual.(PRODUCT & LITERATURE DIGEST)(Advertisement)
August 1, 2005... Learn more about Charlotte Pipe's new ChemDrain[TM] CPVC Chemical Waste Drain System product offering, technical specifications and installation requirements in this convenient manual. Charlotte's ChemDrain System offers a safe, durable and...