The world's tallest twisting tower and the rise of augmented reality technology in construction were among the 10 most popular articles posted on Building Design+Construction's website, BDCnetwork.com, in 2013. Here's a roundup of the top articles from the past 12 months. Happy New Year from the BD+C editorial team!
1. 2013 Giants 300 Report
Building Design+Construction's annual ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. Read the article.
2. 8 trends shaping today’s senior housing
The ranks of those age 65 and older are swelling by the thousands every day. Is there an opportunity for your firm in the seniors housing market? Read the article.
3. World's tallest twisting tower added to Dubai skyline [slideshow]
The 75-story residential building, designed by SOM, features a dramatically rising helix shape for a distinctive addition to the city’s skyline. Read the article.
4. Meet BD+C's 40 Under 40 class of 2013
Forty individuals who have distinguished themselves by their career achievements, service to their professions and communities, and active participation in charitable work. Read the article.
5. 13 structural steel buildings that dazzle
We profile the 13 structural steel building projects have earned national recognition in the 2013 Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel awards program (IDEAS2). Read the article.
6. 7 hip high-rise developments on the drawing board
Here's a collection of recently profiled high-rise projects in the works around the world. They include Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill's whimsical Dancing Dragons tower in Seoul and a 1,312-foot-tall finance and trade center under construction in Nanning, China. Read the article.
7. 5 innovations in high-rise building design
KONE's carbon-fiber hoisting technology is among the breakthroughs named 2013 Innovation Award winners by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Read the article.
8. Augmented reality goes mainstream: 12 applications for design and construction firms
Thanks to inexpensive mobile devices and increasingly advanced software apps, Building Teams are finally able to bring their BIM models to life on the job site. Read the article.
9. In an era of mixed signals, architects embrace cautious optimism
Are architecture firms finally pulling out of the doldrums? The answer is a tentative yes, according to AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker. Read the article.
10. World's first 'invisible' tower planned in South Korea
Called Tower Infinity, the 1,476-foot structure planned just outside the city, near Incheon International Airport, will feature a cloaking façade made of LED projectors and optical cameras that will capture and display the landscape surrounding the building, thus making it appear transparent. Read the article.
Related Stories
| Nov 16, 2010
Architecture Billings Index: inquiries for new projects remain extremely high
The new projects inquiry index was 61.7, down slightly from a nearly three-year high mark of 62.3 in September, according to the Architecture Billings Index (ABI). However, the ABI dropped nearly two points in October; the October ABI score was 48.7, down from a reading of 50.4 the previous month. The ABI reflects the approximate nine to 12 month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending.
| Nov 16, 2010
Brazil Olympics spurring green construction
Brazil's green building industry will expand in the coming years, spurred by construction of low-impact venues being built for the 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee requires arenas built for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro meet international standards for low-carbon emissions and energy efficiency. This has boosted local interest in developing real estate with lower environmental impact than existing buildings. The timing couldn’t be better: the Brazilian government is just beginning its long-term infrastructure expansion program.
| Nov 16, 2010
Green building market grows 50% in two years; Green Outlook 2011 report
The U.S. green building market is up 50% from 2008 to 2010—from $42 billion to $55 billion-$71 billion, according to McGraw-Hill Construction's Green Outlook 2011: Green Trends Driving Growth report. Today, a third of all new nonresidential construction is green; in five years, nonresidential green building activity is expected to triple, representing $120 billion to $145 billion in new construction.
| Nov 16, 2010
Calculating office building performance? Yep, there’s an app for that
123 Zero build is a free tool for calculating the performance of a market-ready carbon-neutral office building design. The app estimates the discounted payback for constructing a zero emissions office building in any U.S. location, including the investment needed for photovoltaics to offset annual carbon emissions, payback calculations, estimated first costs for a highly energy efficient building, photovoltaic costs, discount rates, and user-specified fuel escalation rates.
| Nov 16, 2010
CityCenter’s new Harmon Hotel targeted for demolition
MGM Resorts officials want to demolish the unopened 27-story Harmon Hotel—one of the main components of its brand new $8.5 billion CityCenter development in Las Vegas. In 2008, inspectors found structural work on the Harmon didn’t match building plans submitted to the county, with construction issues focused on improperly placed steel reinforcing bar. In January 2009, MGM scrapped the building’s 200 condo units on the upper floors and stopped the tower at 27 stories, focusing on the Harmon having just 400 hotel rooms. With the Lord Norman Foster-designed building mired in litigation, construction has since been halted on the interior, and the blue-glass tower is essentially a 27-story empty shell.
| Nov 16, 2010
Where can your firm beat the recession? Try any of these 10 places
Wondering where condos and rental apartments will be needed? Where companies are looking to rent office space? Where people will need hotel rooms, retail stores, and restaurants? Newsweek compiled a list of the 10 American cities best situated for economic recovery. The cities fall into three basic groups: Texas, the New Silicon Valleys, and the Heartland Honeys. Welcome to the recovery.
| Nov 16, 2010
Landscape architecture challenges Andrés Duany’s Congress for New Urbanism
Andrés Duany, founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, adopted the ideas, vision, and values of the early 20th Century landscape architects/planners John Nolen and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., to launch a movement that led to more than 300 new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization project commissions for his firm. However, now that there’s a societal buyer’s remorse about New Urbanism, Duany is coming up against a movement that sees landscape architecture—not architecture—as the design medium more capable of organizing the city and enhancing the urban experience.
| Nov 16, 2010
Just for fun: Words that architects use
If you regularly use such words as juxtaposition, folly, truncated, and articulation, you may be an architect. Architects tend to use words rarely uttered during normal conversations. In fact, 62% of all the words that come out of an architects mouth could be replaced by a simpler and more widely known word, according to this “report.” Review this list of designer words, and once you manage to work them into daily conversation, you’re on your way to becoming a bonafide architect.
| Nov 16, 2010
NFRC approves technical procedures for attachment product ratings
The NFRC Board of Directors has approved technical procedures for the development of U-factor, solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), and visible transmittance (VT) ratings for co-planar interior and exterior attachment products. The new procedures, approved by unanimous voice vote last week at NFRC’s Fall Membership Meeting in San Francisco, will add co-planar attachments such as blinds and shades to the group’s existing portfolio of windows, doors, skylights, curtain walls, and window film.
