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The recent news that Best Buy would be closing 50 stores renewed concerns about how this kind of large, empty space could be reused and sparked discussion about the fate of big box retail in general.

What strikes fear in the hearts of those concerned by urban sprawl more than the ubiquitous big box store? Quite possibly, those same big boxes standing empty (case in point: the exhibit “Dark Stores” by photographer Brian Ulrich). "Dark Stores" is the final piece of Ulrich’s three-part series Copia, an extensive study of American consumerism that was shown recently at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and it portrays a haunting array of now-empty retail venues.

Noise control concerns influence the construction of a hotel – learn how to handle sound transmission on a challenging job site.

We have all performed the recommended winter car maintenance to ensure proper operation and have put our summer clothes away for the year.  But have we readied our home for the winter as well?  Preparing your home for cold winter weather not only contributes to your general comfort, but it can also contribute to keeping money in your pocket.

Sound control and your construction project: how to use space, mass, and dampening to solve noise issues during the building of a hotel.

The project was a seismic retrofit of a 15-story, 750,000 sq. ft. office building constructed in 1991. The steel portion of the project consisted of systematically strengthening the moment connections throughout the building and installing over 200 dampers without interrupting the operation of the tenants. The contract dictated that the work would start in the basement, progress through the ground floor and the parking garage (floors 2-5), and then continue through the occupied office floors (6-15). The contractor could only occupy three half-floors at any one time. Although my team was extremely experienced, with over 20 years of seismic experience and over 50 years of steel work experience, this project provided us with some significant lessons to take with us to our next project.

Architectural firm Lord, Aeck & Sargent (LAS) recently created an innovative, collaborative environment for aluminum rolling and recycling company Novelis’ top engineers, scientists, and customers.

The answer to this question lies in economics. In a down economy, it would seem logical that the cost of materials would drop in response to a decline in projects, i.e., a lack of demand. However, global events impact construction costs in the United States, specifically the prices and availability of materials. We spoke with Ken Simonson, the chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGCA), to learn exactly what is driving construction costs and find out his predictions for the coming months.

Information on low-flow plumbing fixtures abounds, and low-flow and waterless urinals are now in widespread use. Flush volume for toilets has evolved to 1.6 gallons per flush, or less than half of the 1980s' standard of 3.5 gallons. The fact that low-flow fixtures can save money in utility costs is clear and easy to calculate with a review of a water bill and an estimate of each fixture’s cycles per month. An enticing payback period for a new fixture purchase can be calculated based on water use alone. However, some facility managers argue that the utility savings offered by these plumbing fixtures are not matched by the unforeseen maintenance and repair costs that they generate. The question of whether low-flow plumbing fixtures offer a good return on investment (ROI) arises.

In President Obama’s State of the Union address on January 27^th, he mentioned Tampa’s upcoming high-speed rail (HSR) project and his subsequent trip there on January 28th. As was mentioned in his speech, Tampa’s new HSR line is not the only rail project addressed in the recent American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). Several other states are slated to receive federal funding for rail line improvements, totaling $8 billion. The Florida project will receive $1.25 billion to connect Tampa to the Orlando International Airport. California will receive $2.25 billion to begin a HSR line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Electric vehicles provide a welcome alternative to gasoline-powered cars ... welcome, that is, as long as we are still able to fuel up as we travel. Take a look at current options available in the United States for charging while on the go.

When Eddy Grant came up with the lyrics to his 1982 hit “Electric Avenue” he likely wasn’t expecting people to actually be rocking down an electric highway just 30 years later. That's what people will be doing later this year on the West Coast Electric Highway (WCEH), a tri-state initiative that will form the longest electric vehicle (EV) charging network in the country, stretching along Interstate 5 from the Canadian to the Mexican border.

Three recessed ceiling light fixtures flood the fireplace in our family room. Sometime after we moved in, the dimmer switch that controls the lights stopped functioning properly. It turned the lights on and off, but did not dim them. We were not concerned with our inability to dim the lights and affect the mood of the room because the light bulbs' brightness at that time was not an issue. Recently, we started replacing our incandascent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL). The CFL bulbs we purchased have a higher lumen output than the incandescents, resulting in a brighter light. It was now time to solve our dimming problem.

It’s no fun to spend money on something you can’t see. Therefore, some green homebuilders are giving you a peek inside their homes’ walls via full-scale "deconstructed" models in order to showcase their energy-saving features.

Homebuilders are finding that green homes, which save owners money in addition to helping the environment, are a powerful differentiator in today’s real estate market. However, buyers may be more motivated to invest in goods that they can actually see. Companies such as Central New York builder Miller Homes and Utah’s Garbett Homes are using deconstructed models to show prospective buyers – as well as building industry professionals and members of the general public – actual sustainable products located inside their buildings’ walls. Miller Homes was awarded a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to implement high-performance building practices, with a focus on tightening the building envelope, and then partnered with Dow Building Solutions and CDH Energy to build an educational, deconstructed duplex. Garbett Homes has built several deconstructed models to reach out to their target market, first-time home buyers. Referring to a Garbett deconstructed model, Rene Oehlerking, director of marketing at Garbett Homes, says, “Nothing is mocked up. We built the home and we stripped the walls, basically taking parts of the home and peeling them back so people can see the actual application. Everything in our deconstruct is a standard feature.”