Building Design & Construction articles from July 2006

Building Design & Construction archives from July 2006

The Merry Road to BIM.
July 1, 2006... By Jeff Yoders, Associate Editor Giants 300 firms are tackling the transition to building information modeling, even as the prospect of a national BIM standard looms on the horizon. A sea change is gripping the U.S. building industry....

Two is Better than One.
July 1, 2006... Staff Emerson Plaza Two, the second of twelve condominium towers planned for Altamonte Springs, Fla., will be a $20 million, 12-story building with 54 condo units and two penthouses. The structure will be identical to Emerson Plaza One and...

KMD Snags Commission to Build South Korea City Hall.
July 1, 2006... Staff San Francisco-based Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz Architects has won the international design and construction competition for Seoul, South Korea's new city hall. The structure, which looks onto Seoul Plaza, is designed to be a visual...

Design-Build Makeover for Chicago Apartment Building.
July 1, 2006... Staff Summit Design+Build of Chicago has been selected as the design/build general contractor for Waterloo Manor, a complete structural renovation and conversion of an existing three-story, six-flat apartment building into eight...

New Terminal for Columbus, Ohio, Airport.
July 1, 2006... Staff Port Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, is undergoing a $1.5 billion capital program that includes a new terminal building and significant infrastructure enhancements. The new 75-gate terminal building will be...

Can Developer Transform La's Grand Avenue?
July 1, 2006... Staff Two years ago, developer Related Cos. opened the 55-story mega-complex known as Time Warner Center in New York and, largely as a result, Columbus Circle has been transformed. The "mini-city" boasts some of New York's best...

Another Condo Under Way in the Windy City.
July 1, 2006... Staff FitzGerald Associates Architects, Chicago, designed Printers Corner, a 17-story condominium tower now under construction in Chicago's Printers Row neighborhood. Each unit of the building, developed for Winthrop Properties, Chicago,...

Exercise Facility will Keep Midshipmen Shipshape.
July 1, 2006... Staff Naval Facilities Engineering Command Washington has selected Hensel Phelps Construction Company to lead the design-build team for the Wesley Brown Field House at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. HKS Inc., Dallas, and Shalom...

New Office Complex in Red Bank, N.J.
July 1, 2006... Staff Ground was broken recently on the first building of Red Bank Corporate Plaza--a four-story, 92,878-sf office property located in Red Bank, N.J. The building was designed by the Princeton, N.J., office of the Hillier Group. It is...

Jewish History Museum Gets New Home in Philadelphia.
July 1, 2006... Staff The National Museum of American Jewish History--the first to address the Jewish experience at a national level--is getting a new home one block from its current location on Independence Mall in Philadelphia. It will be housed...

New Firm, New Project.
July 1, 2006... Staff Meltzer/Mandl Architects and Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects (EE&K), both headquartered in New York, have solidified their long-term relationship by forming a new architectural firm, EE&K Residential. One of the new firm's...

Pre-War Design Re-Created in Condo Plan.
July 1, 2006... Staff Designers of Philadelphia's newest upscale condominiums, located in Rittenhouse Square, seek to recapture the building's original texture and elegance from its days as the Penn Athletic Club, which opened in 1927. The 17-story brick...

The cost of keeping good people.
July 1, 2006... By Robert Cassidy, Editor-in-Chief The nonresidential construction boom keeps rollin' along, and AEC firms are rollin' in dough, as our Giants 300 ranking for 2006 clearly indicates. Paradoxically, one of the chief restraints to continued...

Editors' Picks.
July 1, 2006... Staff Hit me with Your Best Shot Staff In hurricane zones, wall panels need to withstand gale force winds up to 130 mph to meet building codes, but that doesn't mean architects have to specify heavy, expensive walls, thanks to a...

A Beacon of Hope: Giants 300.
July 1, 2006... Staff Last year, we noted that business was good for the great majority of firms in Building Design & Construction's Giants 300. Happily, we can report that the AEC industry outlook should remain positive through the end of the year and...

Lodging boom continues, hotel starts up 94%.
July 1, 2006... By Jim Haughey, Director, Research and Analytics, Reed Construction Data Lodging construction spending increased at a 95% annual pace through April, with construction spending forecast to rise 28% through 2006 and an additional 12% in...

Hiring slows down, likely to level off.
July 1, 2006... By Jim Haughey, Director, Research and Analytics, Reed Construction Data Contractors hired only 1,000 people in May, drawing from a pool of 647,000 unemployed construction workers and nearly 1.5 million unemployed men age 25 or younger....

Industrial vacancy rates edge up.
July 1, 2006... By Jim Haughey, Director, Research and Analytics, Reed Construction Data The industrial vacancy rate edged up to 9.9% in the first quarter from 9.7% at the end of 2005, but remains below the 10.7% rate achieved in the first quarter of last...

Industry Data.
July 1, 2006... By Jim Haughey, Director, Research and Analytics, Reed Construction Data [TABLE OMITTED]

Innovations from the Giants 300.
July 1, 2006... By Jay W. Schneider, Senior Editor Creative, educational, and just plain smart ideas from the top architecture, engineering, and construction firms. The Giants didn't get to be Giants by resting on their laurels. They're constantly...

Letters.(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2006... Staff Don't mess with Texas! I am writing to take exception to your Tech Brief article "BIM modeler forms the country's first regional users group for Autodesk Revit" (June, page 23). It may well be the first Revit group in Kansas...

Green-Classrooms-To-Go.
July 1, 2006... By Hannah Schroder, Editorial Intern Under pressure to reduce class size even as student populations are zooming, school districts are turning to cost-effective green-built modules for help. The trend toward incorporating green...

Supreme Court limits Army Corps on wetlands.
July 1, 2006... Hannah Schroder The U. S. Supreme Court took a step toward more clearly defining the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' jurisdictional boundaries over "waters of the United States" recently in Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. U.S. Army...

News Briefs.
July 1, 2006... Staff Katrina-doused hotel project to go condo. It was just one month before Hurricane Katrina pounded New Orleans that developers embarked on converting the 96-year-old Audubon office building on Canal Street into a 201-room Hilton French...

USGBC considers changes in wood policy.
July 1, 2006... Jeff Yoders The U.S. Green Building Council recently announced that its board of directors has told the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design steering committee to address two proposed changes to the wood and biobased materials...

People/Firms.
July 1, 2006... Staff SB Architects , San Francisco, has promoted Bruce A. Wright , AIA, and Mark S. Sopp , LEED AP, to vice president. Jeanne LeBron has been promoted to director of Federal Programs-Non-Military with Omaha, Neb.-based Leo A Daly... .

BD&C Online Poll.
July 1, 2006... Staff Here are the results from our June BDCnetwork.com poll, which asked BD&C readers: In your opinion, how good a job does your firm do in retaining high-quality professionals? 32% Excellent. We have practically no...

Products at Work.
July 1, 2006... Staff Mesh System Enhances Chicago Retailer's Image and Branding Staff Seeking to lend corporate branding to the design of its new downtown Chicago store, Urban Outfitters was a little more hard pressed than most retailers. That's...

Plumbing Product Roundup.
July 1, 2006... Staff Stylish Soap Dispenser for Hospitality Staff Luxury soap dispensers, great for casinos, hotels, restaurants, and other hospitality facilities, feature a specialized stainless steel pump mechanism and solid brass construction...

Armourcoat plaster wall covering.
July 1, 2006... Staff Armourcoat offers a range of decorative, interior plaster wall coverings for elegant, yet high-traffic spaces, such as retail stores, corporate offices, multifamily residential, and hospitality buildings. Plaster can be finished to...

Bill Gilbane: 'Our strategy is to be very selective'.
July 1, 2006... Staff William J. Gilbane, Jr., is president and COO of Gilbane, a 133-year-old, 1,800-employee contractor and construction manager headquartered in Providence, R.I. The firm, ranked eighth among construction firms and seventh among CMs in...

With Wufi, Moisture is Predictable.
July 1, 2006... By Jeff Yoders, Associate Editor Want to know how your project will stand up to condensation in 10 years? Oak Ridge National Laboratory's WUFI program can get you answers. Exterior siding, flashing, and plumbing can ensure your latest...