Building Design & Construction articles from March 2004

Building Design & Construction archives from March 2004

Ciardullo: on design-build.
March 1, 2004... John Ciardullo, RA, NCARB. Principal-in-Charge. John Ciardullo Associates. Architect. Engineer. Educator. Earned a Master of Architecture from Harvard and Civil Engineering degree from Bradley. His design-build work includes the largest public...

Green building's golden chance.(Editorial)
March 1, 2004... Earlier this month, some 50 green building activists, energy providers, real estate executives, government officials, architects, and engineers were invited to San Francisco for an all-day think session to address two related questions: ...

A/Es gear up for new Federal qualifications form.(News & Trends)
March 1, 2004... The date for implementation of SF330, the new qualifications form for firms that perform Federal design work, has been pushed back until June 8. The original deadline was January 12. SF 330 will replace SF254 and SF255, two forms that have...

Dirk Lohan, grandson of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is leaving Lohan Caprile Goettsch Architects, the firm with which he's been associated for 35 years, as part of a planned transition.(People/firms)
March 1, 2004... Dirk Lohan, grandson of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is leaving Lohan Caprile Goettsch Architects, the firm with which he's been associated for 35 years, as part of a planned transition. The 70-person firm will retain its current name and continue...

Cleveland-based architect van Dijk Westlake Reed Leskosky has changed its name to Westlake Reed Leskosky.(People/firms)
March 1, 2004... Cleveland-based architect van Dijk Westlake Reed Leskosky has changed its name to Westlake Reed Leskosky. The firm also opened an office in Washington, D.C.

RTKL.(People/firms)
March 1, 2004... RTKL, Baltimore, has hired security specialist Maxwell A. Stevens to head its new Security Systems Design group.

Sasaki Associates.(People/firms)
March 1, 2004... Dennis Pieprz has been named president of Sasaki Associates, Boston.

Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum Inc.(People/firms)
March 1, 2004... Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum Inc. has elected five employees to its Board of Directors for a one-year term: Susan Grossinger, director of interiors, Los Angeles; Gary Kuzma, director of MEP engineering, Houston; Larry Malcic, director of design,...

Guajardo Randall Ervin Copper Architects LLC.(People/firms)
March 1, 2004... Chicago-based architect Guajardo Associates LLC has hired Gregory J. Randall as principal and has changed its name to Guajardo Randall Ervin Copper Architects LLC.

Healthcare executives plan further expansions.(News & Trends)
March 1, 2004... Still faced with the need to replace obsolete facilities and mounting demand for services created by an aging Baby Boomer population, healthcare officials are planning to keep project pipelines bulging and funding spigots open wide, at least...

Clarification.(News & Trends)(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2004... The February news story about Freedom Tower that is to be built on the World Trade Center site mistakenly stated that the structure of Chicago's John Hancock Building is outside of the curtain wall. This visible "structure" is actually cladding...

Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates.(Projects awarded)
March 1, 2004... * Atlanta-based Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates is architect for an $81 million headquarters and emergency operations building at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Center in Atlanta. Skanska USA is general...

The 548-room Renaissance Hotel.(Projects awarded)
March 1, 2004... * Billed as the largest non-casino hotel in Nevada--and one that will focus on the interests of exhibitors--the 548-room Renaissance Hotel adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center is scheduled to open in early 2005. It was designed by...

A 190,000-sf retail/entertainment center.(Projects awarded)
March 1, 2004... * San Francisco-based Field Paoli is architect for On Broadway, a 190,000-sf retail/entertainment center in Redwood City, Calif. Wentz Group of Redwood Shores, Calif., is the general contractor.

A 51,000-sf medical building.(Projects awarded)
March 1, 2004... * A 51,000-sf medical building designed by architect Stephen Rankin Associates is under construction at Thorek Hospital on Chicago's north side. Kiferbaum Construction Corp., Deerfield, Ill., is general contractor.

Sprinkler comments debatable.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2004... Dr. Gene Corley's guest commentary on sprinklers (January 2004 BD&C, p. 6) presents a bias that not all readers may be aware of. The title itself, "Reliance on Sprinklers a Mistake," is potentially misleading. The effectiveness of sprinklers in...

Office market kicks into expansion phase.(Industry Data)
March 1, 2004... Fourth-quarter office market reports by CB Richard Ellis and the U.S. Census Bureau, which show decreases in office vacancies and increases in office construction spending, marks the beginning of at least a three-year period of expansion in the...

Soaring steel prices halt, but remain high.(Industry Data)
March 1, 2004... Construction steel prices jumped 6% for reinforcing bars, 10% for plate and 22% for structural beams over the last nine months. This was caused by an unusual convergence of soaring user demand in China, the end of the steel tariffs, higher mill...

Cost comparisons per square foot in select metro markets.(Industry Data)
March 1, 2004... Cost comparisons per square foot in select metro markets Jail Courthouse, 2-3 story '04 '03 % chg. '04 '03 % chg. Atlanta 170.70 168.09 1.6...

Healing oasis.(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
March 1, 2004... Every architect, possibly anyone who has ever put brick to mortar, has dreamed of being given a completely unencumbered site on which to work, and a commission to build not just a single structure, but an entire organic, living, breathing...

Over the top: neither threat of earthquake, nor possible typhoon conditions, nor several disasters could bar this team from constructing the world's tallest building.(Taipei, Taiwan)
March 1, 2004... It stands just 660 feet from a major fault line, in a region that experiences dozens of temblors a year. It will face winds that exceed 100 mph and experience typhoon conditions several times a year. The soil it sits on is described by...

Making the connection: Norway's telecom leader constructs the largest 'free address' building in the world.(Oslo, Norway)
March 1, 2004... The Telenor Group, Norway's largest telecommunications organization, set a high bar for information and communications technology for its new 1.5 million-sf headquarters in the Oslo suburb of Fornebu. As a result, the more than 5,000...

Banking on the future: an office tower symbolizes the transition of the country's third-largest bank toward a more open and technologically advanced marketplace.(People's Republic of China)
March 1, 2004... When a nation of 1.3 billion flexes its economic muscle, the result is a building boom of unprecedented proportions. Last year, China consumed half the world's concrete and one-fourth the steel, most of it for buildings and infrastructure. ...

Embassy House, Beijing.(Made In China)
March 1, 2004... Diplomats are the primary inhabitants of the Embassy House, a 32-story luxury apartment high-rise located in Beijing's Second Embassy District. Designed by the Hong Kong office of HOK, the building is modeled on the premise of a five-star...

U.S. Embassy, Beijing.(Made In China)
March 1, 2004... Ground was broken last month on what is being called the largest project ever built on foreign soil by the U.S. State Department. The new U.S. Embassy, located in Beijing's Third Embassy District, is a 500,000-sf complex occupying a 10-acre...

Highcliff apartments, Hong Kong.(Made In China)
March 1, 2004... Constructed along a steep, rocky cliff overlooking central Hong Kong, the recently completed 73-story Highcliff apartment tower is, at 818 feet, one of the world's tallest residential buildings. Designed by locally based Dennis Lau & Ng...

Tianjin Mall Town, Tianjin.(Made In China)
March 1, 2004... Niles Bolton Associates, Atlanta, is providing master planning, architecture, and landscape architecture services to Tianjin Yong Tai Hong Kan Real Estate Development Co. for Tianjin Mall Town, an 800acre community on the outer loop of Tianjin,...

High security: a new bus terminal in Israel's largest port city gracefully blends anti-terrorist security measures with seaside decor.(Haifa, Israel)
March 1, 2004... In a country where terrorist suicide bombings are all too common--five occurring over the past two and half years in the port city of Haifa alone--a local Israeli firm, Uzi Gordon Architects and Urban Planners, has crafted the city's new bus...

Raise high the roofbeam! In Mexico's capital city, a high-rise goes beyond the usual height restrictions, thanks to shock-absorbing dampers that have already been tested in a quake.(Mexico City, Mexico)
March 1, 2004... By all rights, Mexico City's Torre Mayor should only be 38 stories in height. Through the use of special shock-absorbing dampers, the Building Team was able to gain an additional 17 stories, nearly half again the height that would have been...

Lofty ambitions: with its lantern-like entryway capturing the attention of patrons, the Mori Arts Center elevates art and culture to new heights.(Tokyo, Japan)
March 1, 2004... Drawing 26 million visitors in its first six months of operation last year, Tokyo's gargantuan Roppongi Hills mixed-use development may be the biggest thing to hit the city since Godzilla. Located in the upscale Roppongi neighborhood on a site...

Keeping glazed walls healthy.(Glass Technology)
March 1, 2004... Like many other building components, curtain walls do not last forever. "These installations have a finite service life," says Thomas Schwartz, president of the Waltham, Mass., engineering firm of Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger (SGH), which has a...

Pyrolytic glass coating debuts.(Glass Technology)
March 1, 2004... A reflective, low-e coating that its manufacturer says provides significantly higher daylight transmission and lower reflectivity over its former product has been introduced by glass producer Pilkington. The company says its new Eclipse...

Glass sculpts a college building.(Glass Technology)
March 1, 2004... The 61,000-sf Brown Center at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore is more reminiscent of a sculpture than an academic building. Conceived by local architect Charles Brickbauer in collaboration with Baltimore-based architectural...

Keep out sound and fire.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... Glass can be used as a clear fire barrier and a clear acoustic barrier in sound studios, manufacturing facilities, libraries, airports, and other high-end commercial buildings. The SuperLite II-XL has a sound transmission class rating of 49,...

Low-e, energy saver.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... Low-e architectural glass products are available in a variety of light transmission levels, including VRE-54 (54% visible light transmittance), VRE-38 (38%), VRE-46 (46%), and VRE-59 (59%). The products differ in their heat transfer ratings,...

Reading clear.(Products at work)
March 1, 2004... The Salt Lake City Public Library used 145,000 sf of transparent glass to glaze its curtain walls, lens walls, and massive $1.2 million skylight. According to architect Steve Crane of local VCBO Architecture, the building "reads transparent...

An artists' work.(Products at work)
March 1, 2004... The Kentucky Center for the Arts' $4.1 million renovation took over two years to complete and required a total repair of its curtainwall system, plus the construction of an addition. Because the building remained open during the renovation, the...

Glass film stands strong.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... Panorama designer and safety window film includes an 8-mil. product designed to help hold commercial glass in place if shattered, reducing the chances of break-ins and property damage due to storms or hurricanes. The product reduces energy...

Safety glass.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... Cherokee County, Ga.'s state-of-the-art, $35 million public safety facility uses Makrolon Hygard security glazing materials on cell doors, in common areas, and in visitation booths. The glazing was chosen because of its multiple layers of...

Calculate the easy way.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... A Web-based program that generates glass sizes from field measurements helps architects create designs and calculate final glass sizes for storefronts. Storefronts Online allows users to enter a list of components that are going to be used for...

Web glass.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... Glass tile is now available on the web, with product shots of 27 different glass color options. A variety of untempered glass options are available as well as glass for any interior/exterior wall installation. Studio Line. Reader...

Clear connection.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... The Singapore Changi Airport's 150-meter-long mezzanine glass bridge, which provides a pedestrian link between two terminals, is made from a white translucent PVB interlayer color glass, creating an illuminated "light box" look. The glass's...

Wire glass meets CPSC Standard.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... Fire-rated, laminated polished wired glass is available in stock sheet sizes and meets Consumer Product Safety Commission 16 CFR 1201 Cat I Impact Safety Standards. Pyroshield Plus comes in large sheets, which can be cut and fabricated as...

Rebuilt to last.(Products at work)
March 1, 2004... New York City's World Trade Center Building #7 project will use a low-iron, clear, high-transmission glass. Lead architect Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, New York, chose UltraWhite glass because of its ability to project the true color of the...

Window to the world.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... Window wall can be used for almost any punched opening, a continuous, vertical strip of windows, a horizontal ribbon of windows, of a low-rise curtainwall. The RX Series meets performance standards for water resistance, air infiltration, and...

Blocked glass.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... Structural glass block wall, floor/skylight system is available in any size, with 3-inch or 4-inch glass blocks. The blocks are suspended within a structural aluminum grid system and are sealed inside and out with a silicone sealant. Steel rods...

Sealed tight.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... Holt-melt butyl and polyisobutylene IG sealant is a high-viscosity, high-strength, 100% solid system, the PIB-H1 is based on a PIB polymer formulated to impart reinforcement, resist degradation from ultravoilet light and provide low moisture...

Eco-glass.(Products Glass)
March 1, 2004... Decorative countertops and flooring made from recycled glass is made of traditional terrazzo, created from marble chips embedded in a binding material such as cement or resin. Using 100% post-consumer glass and tinted epoxy resin, the recycled...