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Urban Planning

Bridging the gap: How early architect involvement can revolutionize a city’s capital improvement plans

Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs) typically span three to five years and outline future city projects and their costs. While they set the stage, the design and construction of these projects often extend beyond the CIP window, leading to a disconnect between the initial budget and evolving project scope. This can result in financial shortfalls, forcing cities to cut back on critical project features.



Libraries

Reasons to reinvent the Midcentury academic library

DLR Group's Interior Design Leader Gretchen Holy, Assoc. IIDA, shares the idea that a designer's responsibility to embrace a library’s history, respect its past, and create an environment that will serve student populations for the next 100 years.

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Architects

Every building starts with a concept and a design. Architects are involved at every stage of the process, even after a design has been finalized, helping other building team members through the snares and missteps in the construction process. Building Design+Construction delivers news, trends, and research to the nation's largest architectural design firms. 

Feb 17, 2011

New online tool launched for LEED professional credential holders

Washington, DC (February 17, 2011) – Today, the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI)…
Feb 15, 2011

Iconic TWA terminal may reopen as a boutique hotel

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey hopes to squeeze a hotel with about 150 rooms in the space between the old TWA terminal and the new JetBlue building. The old TWA terminal would serve as an entry to the hotel and hotel lobby, which would also contain restaurants and shops.

Feb 15, 2011

New Orleans' rebuilt public housing architecture gets mixed reviews

The architecture of New Orleans’ new public housing is awash with optimism about how urban-design will improve residents' lives—but the changes are based on the idealism of an earlier era that’s being erased and revised.

Feb 15, 2011

LAUSD commissions innovative prefab prototypes for future building

The LA Unified School District, under the leadership of a new facilities director, reversed course regarding prototypes for its new schools and engaged architects to create compelling kit-of-parts schemes that are largely prefabricated.

Feb 15, 2011

New 2030 Challenge to include carbon footprint of building materials and products

Architecture 2030 has just broadened the scope of its 2030 Challenge, issuing an additional challenge regarding the climate impact of building products. The 2030 Challenge for Products aims to reduce the embodied carbon (meaning the carbon emissions equivalent) of building products 50% by 2030.

Feb 15, 2011

New Urbanist Andrés Duany: We need a LEED Brown rating

Andrés Duany advocates a "LEED Brown" rating that would give contractors credit for using traditional but low cost measures that are not easy to quantify or certify. He described these steps as "the original green," and "what we did when we didn't have money." Ostensibly, LEED Brown would be in addition to the current Silver, Gold and Platinum ratings.

Feb 15, 2011

AIA on President Obama's proposed $1 billion investment in energy conservation

The President’s budget increases the value of investment in energy conservation in commercial buildings by roughly $1 billion, reports AIA 2011 President Clark Manus, FAIA. The significant increase from the current tax deduction of $1.80 per sq. ft. now on the books is an increase for which the AIA has been advocating in order to encourage energy conservation.

Jeff Yoders | Feb 15, 2011

BIM + the Building Envelope: New BIM-enabling programs

The Winter AGC BIM Forum was held last week at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, Calif. All the…
Feb 14, 2011

Sustainable Roofing: A Whole-Building Approach

According to sustainability experts, the first step toward designing an energy-efficient roofing system is to see roof materials and systems as an integral component of the enclosure and the building as a whole. Earn 1.0 AIA/CES learning units by studying this article and successfully completing the online exam.

Feb 11, 2011

If only these walls could talk

Collman & Karsky does much of its work in coastal Florida, designing mission-critical…
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