Building Design & Construction articles from July 2005

Building Design & Construction archives from July 2005

The court and the 'taking issue'.(EDITORIAL)
July 1, 2005... It's not often that a land-use case generates much public attention, but the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in Kelo v. City of New London has set off something of a firestorm around the country. The June 23 ruling found that the Connecticut...

Architects salaries outpace professional wages.(NEWS & TRENDS)
July 1, 2005... It pays to be an architect. At least that's what the American Institute of Architects is suggesting after releasing its recent compensation survey. Architects, on average, earn slightly more than $60,000 a year, including overtime,...

Pitt to spend $5.6 million replacing a three-year-old roof.
July 1, 2005... The University of Pittsburgh will have to spend nearly $5.6 million-more than double the original roof's cost-to replace the Petersen Events Center's leaking, three-year-old roof, project documents and city records show. Pitt, which is suing...

Chicago's Wrigley Building may go residential.
July 1, 2005... Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. may be moving out of its historic headquarters building on Michigan Avenue. Real estate consultant CB Richard Ellis is conducting a feasibility study for Wrigley on the viability of converting the structure to condominiums....

EPA develops performance indicator for auto assembly plants.
July 1, 2005... The first of its kind for a manufacturing facility, the tool compares the energy efficiency of any assembly plant producing passenger cars, light duty trucks, sport-utility vehicles, and vans in the U.S. to that of the entire industry.

Wal-Mart heiress backs hometown art museum.(NEWS & TRENDS)
July 1, 2005... Alice Walton, daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, unveiled plans in May for a $50 million art museum and cultural center to be built within walking distance of downtown Bentonville, Ark., long-time home of the mega-retailer. ...

Firms selected to build data center for eBay.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
July 1, 2005... Holder Construction Co., Atlanta, and TiePoint Engineering, Baltimore, were selected last month to build out on empty, 135,000-sf Phoenix building into a data center far Internet auction company eBay. The data center will occupy two floors of...

Campus center to provide single-stop service for students.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
July 1, 2005... Santa Monica, Calif.-based architect WWCOT has been selected by Santa Monica College to design a new student services and administration building far the campus. The design will focus on consolidating the college's student services, business...

NASA prepares for early launch of support building.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
July 1, 2005... Raleigh, N.C.-based Clancy & Theys is nearing completion of a six-story, 190,000-sf operations support building at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Late last month, NASA employees started to move into the bottom two floors of the...

High school project gets the OK--45 years later.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
July 1, 2005... Afar 45 years of quibbling over the ideal location far its new high school, town leaders in Everett, Mass., have finally agreed on a site far the Everett High School. The $64 million facility, which broke ground in May, will be constructed on a...

High-tech hospital for happier patients.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
July 1, 2005... A hospital in Mansfield, Texas, is being built to support the newest wave in patient care-all-digital technology. The Methodist Mansfield Medical Center, a $132 million structure to be completed in December 2006, is designed as a paper-light...

Massive industrial park welcomes first building.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
July 1, 2005... Construction work has commenced on the first speculative industrial building in the 300-acre Agua Mansa Industrial Center in Riverside, Calif. Developed by a joint venture of Seventh Street Development and Genesis LA Real Estate Fund, the...

Wal-Mart to open first 'green' supercenter.(ON THE DRAWING BOARD)
July 1, 2005... The experimental store, which opens later this month in McKinney, Texas, will feature wind and solar power generation, wetlands, and a drip irrigation system to reduce the building's impact on the local environment. Wal-Mart is working on a...

Industrial vacancy rate declines even as construction soars.(INDUSTRY DATA)
July 1, 2005... The vacancy rate for manufacturing facilities and warehouses declined to 10.7% in the first quarter of 2005 from 11% late last year and 11.3% a year earlier, according to a quarterly survey by CB Richard Ellis. The lowest vacancy rates, by...

Cement, oil, and natural gas drive construction materials inflation.(INDUSTRY DATA)
July 1, 2005... Lumber and steel have given way to cement, oil, and natural gas as the key drivers of construction materials inflation. There is still a small risk of renewed lumber and steel price surges through next year that would be initiated by a stronger...

Nonresidential contractor hiring slows early in 2005.(INDUSTRY DATA)
July 1, 2005... Nonresidential building contractors hired 15,000 people late last year but have added just 3,800 more so far this year and have laid off 2,500 workers since February. This is consistent with the small winter decline in nonresidential...

Cost comparisons per square foot in select metro markets.(INDUSTRY DATA)
July 1, 2005... Cost comparisons per square foot in select metro markets Office, 1-story Day care center '05 '04 % chg. '05 '04 % chg. Atlanta 114.55 108.18...

Is bulk certification next for LEED? PNC Banks wants 'volume LEED approval' for all its new branches, but hurdles remain for retail rollouts seeking one-stop LEED shopping.(Sustainable Program)
July 1, 2005... If you've seen one bank branch, have you really seen them all? Not if it's a PNC Bank green branch office. Banks, retailers, chain restaurants, and other fast-growing businesses put up scores of new buildings each year. Many would like to...

LEED professionals top 20,000 mark.(USGBC News)
July 1, 2005... If there was any question about the rate of growth of the green building movement, one need look no farther than the numbers for the LEED Accredited Professional program. The number of design and construction professionals that have earned...

Designing UFAD systems: underfloor air distribution is gaining traction in green building projects. Our experts offer five ways to avoid the pitfalls and do UFADs right.(Green Technology)
July 1, 2005... As a key element in the design of sustainable office facilities, underfloor air distribution (UFAD) systems provide LEED opportunities for their ventilation effectiveness, use of materials, and controllability. They enable facilities to...

Directory of LEED(R) accredited professionals.(Directory)
July 1, 2005... Adolfson & Peterson Construction Tempe, AZ 85282 Sue Sylvester 480.345.8739 * Fax: 480.345.8755 Email: ssylvester@a-p.com Architectural Energy Corporation Boulder, Colorado 1-800-450-4454 Email: info@archenergy.com...

Contractors.
July 1, 2005... CONTRACTORS RANK 2004 REVENUE % CHANGE 2005 2004 COMPANY (IN MILLIONS) (vs. 2003) 1 1 The Turner Corp. $6,574.57 7.5% 2 3...

Construction managers.
July 1, 2005... CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS RANK 2004 REVENUE % CHANGE 2005 2004 COMPANY (IN MILLIONS) (vs. 2003) 1 1 URS Corp. $4,235.00 7.4% ...

Architect/engineers.
July 1, 2005... ARCHITECT/ENGINEERS RANK 2004 REVENUE % CHANGE 2005 2004 COMPANY (IN MILLIONS) (vs. 2003) 1 1 HOK $223.53 13.4% 2...

Architects.
July 1, 2005... RCHITECTS 1 1 Gensler $225.0 12.5% 2 2 NBBJ $107.4 4.2% 3 3 Perkins+Will $98.9 6.6% 4 6 Kohn...

Engineers.
July 1, 2005... NGINEERS RANK 2004 REVENUE % CHANGE 2005 2004 COMPANY (IN MILLIONS) (vs. 2003) 1 1 Fluor Corp. $1,089.54 11.1% 2 2...

Engineer/architects.
July 1, 2005... ENGINEERS/ARCHITECTS RANK 2004 REVENUE % CHANGE 2005 2004 COMPANY (IN MILLIONS) (vs. 2003) 1 1 URS Corp. $1,906.75 66.2% 2...

Giants 300: business is good.(SPECIAL REPORT)(Cover Story)
July 1, 2005... Hallelujah! Business was good in 2004 for many AEC firms in Building Design & Construction's Giants 300, and there's cautious optimism that business will stay strong throughout 2005. That positive attitude has led many firms to expand...

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.(RECRUITMENT/RETENTION)
July 1, 2005... Business is good, even robust, for many of the AEC firms on BD&C's Giants 300 list. But rapid growth brings with it recruitment and retention headaches for top executives. "The No. 1 issue for us is people--finding good, strong people with...

23 ways to energize your firm's CE program.(CONTINUING EDUCATION)
July 1, 2005... Last year, some 35,000 continuing education learning units were made available to architects and other building professionals, according to Thomas Lowther, AIA director of continuing education systems. Use this checklist, based on input from CE...

What firms should demand from 'lunch-and-learns.'.(CONTINUING EDUCATION)
July 1, 2005... Ken Hercenberg does not suffer fools lightly. As technical resource manager for the 800 architects worldwide that form Baltimore-based RTKL, Hercenberg has been known to throw building product representatives out the door when their "education"...

The professional's choice.
July 1, 2005... The Professional Alan Traugott Principal CJL Engineering Moon Township, Pa. Alan Traugott is a founding member of the U.S. Green Building Council and has served as a director on the USGBC board for more than 11 years. He also serves as...

Steel is a steal.(PRODUCTS AT WORK)
July 1, 2005... Lowe's company headquarters in Mooresville, N.C., recently added a 1,500-car parking structure. While architects initially designed a garage made of precast concrete, a cost analysis revealed that a proposal utilizing hot-dip galvanized steel...

Show me the green.(PRODUCTS AT WORK)
July 1, 2005... More than 45,000 sf of Formawall foamed metal wall panels clad the exterior of a new manufacturing facility in Shanghai for Chengdu Banknote Printing Co., which prints China's legal tender. Finished in aged copper, the panels offer the strength...

Strong and sterile.(PRODUCTS AT WORK)
July 1, 2005... When designing a $53 million expansion of Cook Children's Medical Center in Ft. Worth, Texas, project architect Anne Mullins of FKP Architects spent months searching for flooring that would appeal to the children, help with traffic flow, and...

Panels for the planet.(PRODUCTS AT WORK)
July 1, 2005... When designers of the new sports and entertainment center in downtown Winnipeg, Man., wanted eco-friendly wall panels with acceptable flame-spread performance and high surface density, they looked to the nearby wheat fields. Woodstalk-brand...

Safety first.(PRODUCTS)
July 1, 2005... During Polshek Partnership's recent entryway renovations at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the design was just like your mother always told you--safety first. More than 130 sm of stainless steel cable mesh later, even the most overprotective...

Picture-perfect plaster.(PRODUCTS)
July 1, 2005... The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., houses 900 works of art in 22 exhibition rooms within its West Building. During its renovation, this meant 35,000 sf of walls to plaster. Due to the NGA's stringent zero-tolerance standards,...

Flush to conserve.(EDITOR'S PICKS)
July 1, 2005... New high-efficiency toilets let users choose either 1 or 1.6 gallons per flush with the push or pull of a handle. This new flush system, found in the EcoQuantum dual-flush pressure-assist toilets, can conserve an average of 4,500 gallons of...

Wall protection.(EDITOR'S PICKS)
July 1, 2005... Line of wall protection products has been expanded with three environmentally sensitive options: handrail and chair rail made from bamboo, wall guards made from 80%-recycled stainless steel, and wall and corner guards manufactured from recycled...

Bring the sky inside.(EDITOR'S PICKS)
July 1, 2005... Ceiling system incorporates backlit translucent panels imprinted with a variety of images to re-create the look of real skylights. SkyTiles are compatible with existing flat or drop ceilings and are available with landscape, sky, and deep space...

Wind load calculator.(EDITOR'S PICKS)
July 1, 2005... Manufacturer of metal edge roofing systems has created a free online wind design calculator to help designers calculate the wind speed in a particular area and the design pressure needed for either fascia or coping to withstand that wind speed....

Light-powered lavatory.(EDITOR'S PICKS)
July 1, 2005... Handwashing fixture incorporates photovoltaic cells that convert the restroom light into electricity to activate the flow of water. Express SS and MG series lavatory systems do not require a hard-wired electrical connection or batteries. The...

Ultimate accessibility.(EDITOR'S PICKS)
July 1, 2005... Fiberglass roll-in shower meets ADA requirements for accessibility with wheelchairs and walkers. Ideal for hotels and resorts catering to the growing senior travel industry, the Best Bath shower features a collapsible water dam that allows for...

Old world charm.(EDITOR'S PICKS)
July 1, 2005... Fiberglass double door provides the old-world charm of wood with the durability of fiberglass. IWP Aurora is available pre-hung with a flat or full radius top in mahogany wood grain or paint grade finish. Decorative options include straps and...

Dual-flush toilets.(EDITOR'S PICKS)
July 1, 2005... Line of two-piece toilets provides users with the choice of flushing with 0.8 or 1.6 gallons to help reduce water consumption. Sterling Rockton and Karsten toilets feature a siphonic system that ensures optimum washdown on a single flush and...

Groovy without UV.(EDITOR'S PICKS)
July 1, 2005... Metal-halide lamp features a coating that blocks 90% of the ultraviolet light output while maintaining its color rendering and lumen levels. By reducing UV levels, the UV-Cut lamp prevents fading, discoloration, and deterioration of materials...

Flooring with glitz and glitter.(EDITOR'S PICKS)
July 1, 2005... Slip-resistant rubber flooring is infused with aluminum glitter to add sparkle to the slightly textured surface. Noraplan Grip is PVC-free and does not require waxing or sealing, contributing to healthier indoor air quality and lower cleaning...

Designing with light.(EDITOR'S PICKS)
July 1, 2005... Visual selection catalog takes designers through products, case studies, and design strategies for interior lighting. "Designing with Light" includes specification information and guidelines for effective application of more than 1,000...