Houses are stationary objects, so using terms like “passive” and “active” to describe them initially seems a little odd. These terms actually embody design strategies that create comfort for occupants while drastically cutting down on energy use.
Frank Gehry’s high-profile Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas draws attention -- and dollars -- to the cause of treating memory disorders.
Tight budgets and aggressive timelines are nothing new in the construction industry. The current economic climate has only increased the need to deliver more for less. More and more, the industry is now turning to Building Information Modeling (BIM) to help increase productivity, minimize waste, and prevent costly errors earlier in the construction process. According to Building Design+Construction’s 2009 Giants 300 Survey, half of all respondents reported using at least 30 seats of BIM software, and a recent McGraw-Hill Construction survey report revealed that 50 percent of North American contractors have adopted BIM.
There are two facts about living in Los Angeles: real estate is expensive, and cars are beloved, if only out of necessity. A team of students from Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) created CHIP, an affordable home that acknowledges both facts while saving energy. This 2011 Solar Decathlon entry employs conventional materials in unconventional ways, offering a new prototype for living in LA (and, yes, it protects your car, too).
My latest bit of unsolicited advice for civil engineers and other land development professionals is simple: go play in the rain. Alternatively, if you feel you have gotten too old (never!) to play in the rain, at least get out and watch it. The typical human tendency is to stay inside when it rains, and going out to check on the site of your proposed, ongoing, or completed construction project is probably one of the last things that you want to do, but it can be a tremendous learning experience.
Michel Theriault understands the working environment that facility managers face daily – the technical challenges and opportunities within their facility management organizations and additionally the relationships and business dynamic beyond the facilities management staff. Many facility management resources offer the latest technical insights and maintenance strategies, but Theriault’s book takes on facilities management business aspects not often addressed in this field. Managing Facilities & Real Estate clearly stands out in this regard. It offers rare and valuable business advice for facility managers using practical and easy-to-read terminology and graphics.
Tile flooring can be installed in a variety of locations. Prior to buying tile for your flooring project take the time to answer a few questions: Is the tile going to be located indoors or outdoors? What is the room going to be used for? Is the tile going to be installed in a wet area? How much foot traffic does the room experience on a daily basis? Identifying answers to these questions will define a floor tile that will have the specific characteristics to meet your needs.
Tile floors are an extremely durable, long-term investment that should be regularly cared for to preserve both their appearance and value. In fact, a well cared for tile floor can last a lifetime. According to the Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components, which was prepared in 2007 by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the average life expectancy of a ceramic tile floor is 75 to 100 years, while natural stone such as marble and granite can last more than 100 years.
Tile flooring is manufactured from a variety of materials such as clay, stone, metal, terrazzo, and quartz. Each type of tile flooring has its own defining characteristics. Generally speaking, the two most commonly used types of tile flooring are ceramic and natural stone.
As many architects, engineers, developers, and facility managers know, a LEED project comes with many lofty goals. Often those goals include ambitious reductions in energy and water usage. However, once the project is finished, those goals are typically overlooked, indicating a glaring need for an ongoing process that ensures that expected performance is met or exceeded. It is with this in mind that the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has created the Building Performance Partnership.
We are fortunate to live in a time when the phrase "the greenest building is the one already built" is starting to catch on and hopefully becoming commonplace in the building industry. The proof is undeniable, but changing the way we do business never happens quickly. As we move toward the goal of building more sustainably, we must alter the way we view the built environment and make it easier to preserve the buildings already standing and discourage sprawling, disposable development.
What will be the next big thing in hospital design? Kaiser Permanente, a leading not-for-profit health plan and care provider, aims to find out. Although accustomed to building large medical campuses, a changing health care delivery model has induced the company to explore ways of making care more accessible while improving cost effectiveness.
