Building Design & Construction articles from September 2008

Building Design & Construction archives from September 2008

Ceiling Systems: Open Plenum or Suspended?
September 1, 2008... By Sam Oches, Editorial Intern A new study suggests the difference may be more than just style. A new study sponsored by the Ceilings & Interior Systems Construction Association (CISCA), the trade group representing the acoustic...

First phase of green residential neighborhood under construction in Stamford.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Lenora Jane Estes, Editorial Intern Construction has commenced on the first phase of Metro Green Residential, a candidate for LEED New Construction and Neighborhood Development certification, in Stamford, Conn. The Metro Green Apartments...

Construction begins on Sunset Park Firehouse in Brooklyn.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Lenora Jane Estes, Editorial Intern Ground has been broken on the $6.8 million firehouse for Engine Company 201 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The three-story, 17,000-sf firehouse will be one of the first firehouses to be built under the...

Private rooms, sky lobbies will be the focus of children's hospital.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Lenora Jane Estes, Editorial Intern Construction has commenced on Chicago's new Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, a 288-bed facility that will replace Children's Memorial Hospital. Designed to achieve LEED certification, the...

Accident Fund Insurance to transform power plant into headquarters.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Lenora Jane Estes, Editorial Intern Accident Fund Insurance Company of America has started to transform the Lansing (Mich.) Board of Water & Light's Ottawa Street Station power plant into its new national headquarters. The $182 million...

Claremont McKenna College plans $5.5 million tennis center.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Lenora Jane Estes, Editorial Intern Irvine, Calif.-based gkkworks has begun the construction phase of the Biszantz Family Tennis Center for Claremont McKenna College. The project will create about 170,000-sf of courts, fields, and...

Capital Bank Building to be newest addition to Dallas skyline.
September 1, 2008... By Lenora Jane Estes, Editorial Intern The final beam has been placed atop the 292-foot-tall Texas Capital Bank Building, built by The Beck Group, Dallas, in the Dallas Uptown district. The $120 million project will include a five-story...

University of Florida's College of Dentistry to get new Dental Clinic.(contract with SchenkelShultz Architecture)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Lenora Jane Estes, Editorial Intern SchenkelShultz, Fort Meyers, Fla., has designed the University of Florida's College of Dentistry's new $5.4 million, 20,000-sf Dental Clinic, which is under construction on the campus of Edison...

LEED Platinum office structure under way near Denver.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Lenora Jane Estes, Editorial Intern Aardex, a design, development, and construction firm based in Golden, Colo., has unveiled its plans to develop Signature Tower, a 410,000-sf LEED Platinum office structure in Centennial, Colo. The...

10 ways you can hold down project costs.
September 1, 2008... Robert Cassidy, Editor-in-Chief Your clients are clobbering you on "escalating construction costs," and no wonder. In the last four years, the cost of asphalt has gone up 190%, copper and brass 146%, iron and steel 114%, aluminum 72%,...

New Curtain Wall evamps a Corporate Headquarters.(CSX Corp's contract with RS and H)
September 1, 2008... By Lenora Jane Estes, Editorial Intern Thousands and thousands of 1960s-era buildings clad in ugly tiles and inefficient, outdated façades are sprinkled throughout the U.S. Practically every major city has at least one of these...

Office market dips in 2008, flat through '09.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Jim Haughey, BD+C Economist Office construction has declined slightly this year--and further declines are expected over the next year--but there's still a small amount of office development growth left in this building cycle. This...

RSMeans costs comparisons.
September 1, 2008... By Jim Haughey, BD+C Economist [TABLE OMITTED]

Voice message systems that may save your butt.
September 1, 2008... By Matthew Phair, Contributing Editor Palmtops, laptops, and tablet PCs are all great tools for processing project information. But no matter the speed of the microprocessor inside or the quality of the screen outside, the ultra-fast pace...

Tech briefs.
September 1, 2008... Staff - BIM solutions and construction information provider Reed Construction Data will provide Autodesk with nearly 1,200 high-quality, parametric BIM objects, representing 17,000 product configurations, for the Autodesk Seek service....

Living in a Green Laboratory.(Duke University)(Stanford University)
September 1, 2008... By Dave Barista, Managing Editor At Duke and Stanford, student residence halls are starting to function more like live-in laboratories, where students can research, develop, and test new ways to live green. Question : What do you get...

High-Performance Building Systems.
September 1, 2008... By C.C. Sullivan and Barbara Horwitz-Bennett Mechanical, Electrical and Controls Systems For more efficient, valuable, and sustainable buildings, it is critical to focus on engineered systems and building automation. In addition to...

New mixed-use exhibition center largest in China.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Sam Oches, Editorial Intern Constructed on a tight schedule in order to host the International Auto Show in April and various activities for the Summer Olympics in August, the New China International Exhibition Center in Beijing became...

First aloft hotel opens in U.S.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Sam Oches, Editorial Intern The first aloft hotel in the U.S. opened in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., as part of HavenPark, a $60 million mixed-use development currently being developed by The Hileman Co., Los Angeles. The aloft brand is...

Sustainable city hall conserves water, purifies air.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Sam Oches, Editorial Intern The new city hall in Cambridge, Ont., is registered to become the first LEED Gold-certified city hall in Canada. Because Cambridge is the largest urban area in Canada to rely on groundwater, designers at...

San Antonio museum expansion opens.(Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... By Sam Oches, Editorial Intern The McNay Art Museum in San Antonio reopened after the completion of a $33 million, 45,000-sf expansion named the Jane and Arthur Stieren Center for Exhibitions. With Jean-Paul Viguier, Paris, serving as the...

City college seeks to revitalize Chicago's Englewood neighborhood.(Kennedy-King College)
September 1, 2008... Lenora Jane Estes and Sam Oches, Editorial Interns A plaque on the wall outside Kennedy-King College, a new $100 million campus in the Chicago neighborhood of Englewood, states a somewhat timeworn but still valuable lesson: "If you give a...

News Briefs.
September 1, 2008... Staff - Government building boom to hit $300 billion for 2008.Construction spending by federal, state, and local governments has reached record levels, despite a collapse in home building. Governments are on track to spend a record $300...

'Fully customizable condos' help real estate firm beat sluggish market.(HQ Marketing Partners)
September 1, 2008... Sam Oches, Editorial Intern With the U.S. housing market in a tailspin, developers are starting to think outside the box in order to attract more customers. HQ Marketing Partners, a real estate and marketing firm out of New York, thinks it...

Letters.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... Staff To USGBC: Release data on certified wood Regarding the USGBC's one-month public comment period on proposed revisions to its certified wood credit (www.usgbc.org/displaypage.aspx?cmspageid=1866 ), I believe that the USGBC has...

Access floors help raise office tower to LEED Gold.(RBC Centre )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff The installation of raised floors with underfloor air distribution throughout 1.2 million-sf RBC Centre in Toronto is expected to significantly contribute to the tower's LEED Gold certification. The $420 million project, which is on...

Terrace door minimizes energy use.
September 1, 2008... Staff Aluminum terrace door for luxury condo applications features one-inch-thick insulated glass and an enhanced thermal barrier, which combine to provide a U-value of 0.42. The NX -8900 Aluminum Terrace Door offers the thermal...

Architecturally accurate printouts on plain paper.(Oce ColorWave 600 )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff The Oce ColorWave 600 wide-format printer combines the best of toner and inkjet technology to produce large, high-quality images on plain and recycled paper. The printer eliminates the toner feathering inherent with traditional...

Double-action hinge for glass door system.
September 1, 2008... Staff Recommended for interior applications where a minimal, modern design is desired (such as offices or art galleries), double-action hinge for glass doors returns the door to closed position by the action of the hinges alone, without...

Multi-speed hand dryer.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff Adjustable-speed hand dryer suits a variety of applications. Turn the speed up for fast drying at the sports center, school, or water park. Turn down for quiet operation at the library or museum. Bradley

Get a wood ceiling at a fraction of the cost.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff Line of ceiling panels and planks provides a realistic wood appearance and a range of sizes at a fraction of the cost of traditional wood ceilings. Suitable for a variety of interior environments, including offices, lobbies and...

Moment frame for low- and mid-rise buildings.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff Stronger than site- or factory-built shear walls, moment frames permit larger openings and smaller wall sections in buildings while offering higher load values. In the past, however, moment frames have been time intensive to design...

Vandal-resistant mortise locks.(Stanley Security Solutions )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff These mortise locks are available with a vandal-resistant feature that includes a clutch mechanism designed to break away when excessive force (in excess of 15 foot-pounds of torque) is applied either by kicking or standing on the...

High-bay occupancy sensor.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff Occupancy sensor for high-bay applications such as warehouses, manufacturing plants, and open-plenum offices uses passive infrared detection technology that compares the infrared energy from an object in motion to that of background...

Rubber flooring has Beijing's 'Water Cube' covered.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff A landmark of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the National Aquatics Center, commonly known as the "Water Cube," features more than 107,000 sf of noraplan mega rubber flooring in the corridors and high-traffic areas, offering comfort...

Aluminum tile adorns Calvin Klein store in Hong Kong.
September 1, 2008... Staff Floor tiles made from aircraft-grade aluminum were specified for the new Calvin Klein Underwear store in Hong Kong. Architect Yuji Yamazaki with New York-based Janson Goldstein specified 1,000 sf of the 6x24-inch matte finish tiles...

Eco-Dorm Builds Community.
September 1, 2008... By Dave Barista, Managing Editor Natural ventilation, daylighting, and a strong sense of community are central to Pitzer College's LEED Gold student residence. In a climate where the temperature regularly hits 90[degrees]F, and...

5 Tips for Retrofitting with Metal Roofing.
September 1, 2008... By Jay W. Schneider, Senior Editor Why choose a metal roof when retrofitting your building? According to Mark James, a former independent roofing consultant and, more recently, general manager of Houston-based MBCI NuRoof Retrofit...

Metal Deck/Membrane Roofs Now Come with Single-source Warranties.
September 1, 2008... Jeff Yoders Take a metal deck roof, which many specifiers like for its strength, light weight, economy, and ease of installation, and combine it with a waterproof membrane, such as PVC, SBS, TPO, or EPDM to protect it from weather and UV...

Stainless steel tops addition to Yale's Lewis Walpole Library.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff Looking for a metal roof system with a natural gray patina to top an addition to Yale University's Lewis Walpole Library, Centerbrook Architects of Centerbrook, Conn., specified 9,700 sf of TCS II terne-coated, stainless-steel...

Copper shingles extend life of Traffic Tunnel Administration Building in Boston.(Custom-Bilt Metals)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff The neoclassical Traffic Tunnel Administration Building was built on the northern edge of downtown Boston in 1931. But, like many buildings its age, the years had begun to take their toll on the structure, and the original...

Factory-glued TPO roof.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff Eliminate the mess, fuss, and intensive labor with adhered single-ply roofing systems with Versico's factory-applied, self-adhesive TPO membrane. The VersiWeld QA system doesn't require solvents, which makes installations...

Modified bitumen 'cool' roof achieves Energy Star rating.(Soprema Inc.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff Composed of SBS modified bitumen on fiberglass reinforcement with highly reflective white top surface, Soprema's Energy Star-rated SopraStar roof membrane maintains high reflectivity and emissivity. Unlike white granulated and coated...

Cover design gives fire vent increased insulation.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff Bilco's domed fire vent, the Lumivent, offers a 40% improvement in insulation with a multi-wall, polycarbonate cover design. The cover also maximizes light transmittance, minimizes solar heat gain, is surface treated to resist UV...

Green roof on the cheap.(Carlisle SynTec Inc.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Staff Consisting of pre-planted modular trays, the GreenGrid Roof Garden System runs approximately half the cost of a traditional roof garden installation and allows roofing contractors to install the entire system without the need for...

'It's time for a big-picture effort on infrastructure'.(Earl Blumenauer)(Interview)
September 1, 2008... Staff Earl Blumenauer , M.C., Assoc. AIA, has represented Oregon's Third Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1996. Previously, he served in the Oregon House of Representatives, then as a Multnomah County...