Concrete, Healthcare Facility Design, Latest Building Technologies
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Glen-Gery’s Children’s Hospital of Michigan project was awarded the Silver in the Healthcare Category at this year’s Brick in Architecture Awards from the Brick Industry Association (BIA). A combination of child-focused design and energy-efficiency, this project delivers a sustainable environment in both form and function.
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Would it surprise you to learn that one of the most versatile, colorful, and beautiful materials you can design with is concrete? New or old, horizontal or vertical, indoors or outdoors, the possibilities of concrete go far beyond the familiar gray slab to almost any texture, shape, pattern or color you can imagine. All while delivering durability, long life, thermal properties and environmental benefits at a cost comparable to or lower than other less versatile materials. This article will describe techniques for finishing and coloring so you can go beyond cellars and subfloors to true architectural concrete.
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The new VELUX Dynamic Dome commercial skylights balance light transmittance, industry structural demands, and architectural elegance while contributing significantly to reducing lighting costs, says Ross Vandermark, national product manager for VELUX America. “The Dynamic Dome is engineered to reflect less light and to harvest more light,” he says, “especially in the early morning and late afternoon. The focus of the design is on maximizing low sun angle performance. This can result in significantly reduced energy costs as electric lights can be turned off earlier in the day and will not have to be turned back on until later in the day.”
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Used in applications ranging from parking decks and residential garages to retail spaces, universities and stadiums, polyaspartic coatings have become popular as an alternative to solventborne acrylics and polyurethanes. Known for their performance, functionality and practicality, coatings utilizing this modern technology offer superior durability and quick return to service, along with low temperature application, high build per coat and excellent “color pop” over decorative, stained floors. Additionally, the usage of polyaspartic coatings often results in time and labor savings.
Read MoreThe Gypsum Association (GA), which represents the North American manufacturers of gypsum wallboard, has released an industry-wide environmental product declaration (EPD) for glass mat gypsum panels. The EPD provides vital environmental performance information addressing energy consumption, water consumption, global warming, waste, air emissions and other metrics related to production.
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We all started somewhere. And in this article I will discuss three mistakes commonly made by beginners. These are mistakes I have experienced in the past and mistakes that I often see made by beginners applying resinous floors. They are common mistakes and can easily be avoided by asking the right questions and doing some background research before starting.
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Housed in the 1920’s Varlow Building, DonorsChoose.org occupies an entire floor of this historic building. In collaboration with VWB Architects, the new space has been created to support their unique business model and working style. The most significant feature in the space is a centrally located “fort” built from a system of modular wood boxes. This structure houses multiple functions and removable panels of felt, chalkboard material or wood allow for infinite combinations of use and aesthetic. The space accommodates a meeting room, a study nook, pin-up surfaces and multiple options for storage and display. Workstations and collaborative tables are dispersed throughout the space to provide a variety of public and private working postures.
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Outdoor living space, mud rooms, and home offices top the list of special function rooms in the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Home Design Trends Survey covering activity during the second quarter of 2016 that focused on emerging home features, systems and technologies. “Heavy investment in outdoor living spaces, mud rooms, and home offices indicate that consumers are placing a premium on practicality and functionality,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “Things have changed a lot from a decade ago when home theaters and exercise rooms were some of the most popular special function rooms in homes.”
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STAPLES Center and AEG tasked MEIS Architects to create and design the new looks for all 170 Private Suites and the 16 Event Suites. The unique connection with MEIS Architects is that Dan Meis, Founder and Managing Principal of MEIS Architects, was one of the original architects of STAPLES Center. Each Private Suite has a sophisticated and contemporary feel with new carpeting, cabinet finishes, and wood grain floor tile, that all adds up to a distinctly contemporary design. All 170 suites in the venue will be updated to reflect the state-of-the-art in-suite amenity. Suite holders today prefer a more social, less formal vibe and a configuration that promotes interaction and casual conversation, in addition to watching the event.
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Songdo International Business District (IBD), the $35 billion new city-scale development in Incheon, South Korea, being developed by Manhattan-based Gale International, was touted as the leading model for smart and sustainable new cities at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo 2016 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Greenbuild, sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council, is the world’s largest event dedicated to green building.
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The presentation titled “Making Cities Resilient through Green Infrastructure” will be made Thursday, September 29 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. at the Oregon Convention Center. Panelists will include Ozzie Gonzalez, CH2M Sustainability Director; Mark Anderson, CH2M Water Technologist; Cory Rayburn, Environmental Program Manager with the City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management; and green roof specialists Columbia Green Technologies.
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Mayor Jim Kenney joined officials of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Fairmount Park Conservancy to celebrate the highly anticipated start of the renovation of the Welcome Center at LOVE Park, and announced Saint-Gobain will be the Presenting Sponsor of the Welcome Center, which is anticipated to be completed in spring 2017 in tandem with the rebuilding of LOVE Park in Center City.
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As part of its global community engagement efforts, PPG (NYSE: PPG) announced the completion of a...
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Delos™, a wellness real estate and technology firm, has announced a partnership with HOK, a global design, architecture and engineering firm, to accelerate the organization’s mission to integrate health and wellness into the built environment. The new partnership will leverage HOK’s worldwide network of designers and clients to further expand the global reach of the WELL Building Standard™ (WELL™).
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New construction starts in August soared 21% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $711.2 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics, following lackluster activity in July. The August rise for total construction starts featured an especially elevated amount for nonresidential building, which was helped by the start of a $3 billion petrochemical plant in Louisiana, the $1.7 billion Wynn Casino in the Boston MA area, and a $508 million terminal upgrade at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
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On the heels of six out of seven months of increasing levels of demand for design services, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) fell just below the positive mark. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the August ABI score was 49.7, down from the mark of 51.5 in the previous month. This score reflects a decrease in design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 61.8, up sharply from a reading of 57.5 the previous month.
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The double-skin façade, one of the first of its kind in North America, combines with two vertical thermal shafts and a solar chimney to naturally ventilate the 33-story skyscraper without electricity or fan power for 42 percent of the year. As a result, the Tower at PNC Plaza, which opened Oct. 1, 2015, is expected to consume up to 50 percent less temperature-control-related energy than comparable buildings of its size.
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Jeanne Gang’s glass ceiling reaches 93 stories in height. She broke that barrier when construction began Wednesday [September 7] on the renowned Chicago architect and MacArthur fellow’s Vista tower, a 1,144-foot, 93-story hotel and condominium development projected to be the tallest building in the world designed by a woman.
Read MoreARCHITECT, the official publication of the American Institute of Architects, has ranked ZGF Architects as the No. 1 firm in the United States for 2016. The publication evaluated the firm’s design innovation, business acumen, and leading-edge sustainability against other competitors in naming ZGF the top firm on its Architect 50 ranking.
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The Green Road, a two-acre outdoor healing environment for injured military service members and their families, opened Monday at Naval Support Activity Bethesda, home of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. One of the first of its kind on a military base, the Institute for Integrative Health initiative includes research to measure the Green Road’s healing effects on catastrophic injuries, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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Wednesday night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5303, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016 by a vote of 399-25. The two-year cycle legislation would authorize water infrastructure projects and programs conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), in conjunction with the Nature Conservancy and the American Society of Civil Engineers, successfully worked with congressional champion Representative Reid Ribble (WI) to include a provision in WRDA encouraging the consideration of green infrastructure in the design, planning, and maintenance of water infrastructure projects. During Ribble’s recent testimony on behalf of the amendment, ASLA was recognized for its efforts in support of the amendment.
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A new online guide, the Resilient Design Guide, launched yesterday by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) explains how communities can better protect themselves from natural disasters through resilient landscape planning and design.
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According to Reed, the Sto systems featured Stolit Lotusan and StoColor Lotusan’s unique super hydrophobic technology. Both systems provide a weather-resistant barrier while also providing a self-cleaning finish, resulting in long-term performance with less maintenance costs for the owners.
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“Health hub is more than a specific building design. Health hub is an experience model that scales to different facility sizes and configurations,” said David Grandy, FACHE, CMPE, managing director of HDR’s Strategic Innovation Group. “This collaboration with Kaiser Permanente to improve the health and health experience of their patients through human-centered design resulted in truly advancing the thinking and models of care for the future.”
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W. R. MEADOWS, celebrating its 90th year as a construction leader, continues to push its building envelope product line – including its AIR-SHIELD LSR. AIR-SHIELD LSR is an eco-friendly, asphalt-free, single-component, synthetic rubber based liquid air/vapor and liquid moisture barrier. It acts as an air/vapor and liquid moisture barrier within the building envelope and can be applied to most common surfaces and integrated into various wall systems of both new construction and restoration.
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Provision Healthcare and Hamlin Retail Partners West, an affiliate of Boyd Development Corporation and Schrimsher Properties, announced a joint venture to develop and operate a proton therapy center as part of a medical campus in Hamlin, an 850-acre mixed-use town center development in southwest Orange County.
