One night in early March as well as the next day before dawn, the Dept. of Energy’s Jeffrey M. Baker wasn’t pleased when he noticed lights still burning on two floors of his pet project: the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s new, ultra-green office building in Golden, Colo. “The cleaning staff probably left them on,” said Baker, who oversees the lab. Photo: Dennis Schroeder/NREL Monitors Pless (left) and a colleague track the building’s energy use to see if it aligns with the energy model used for design. Related Links: 2011 Award of Excellence Winner: Jeffrey M. Baker Risky ‘Golden’ Job Proves
Constructing any major hospital is a challenge, but building a 320-bed state-of-the-art teaching hospital for $16 million in the highlands of Haiti is fraught with difficulties. Yet the aid group Partners in Health (PIH) is doing just that, using funds that come not from the government or the United Nations but from donations collected by the Boston-based group, which has worked for 23 years to boost the capacity of Haiti’s public health sector. The materials, services and cash contributions are coming from private companies and organizations, especially from companies in the U.S. construction sector. The hospital, which will have six
Haselden Construction and architect RNL put almost everything on the line for the Energy Dept.’s Research Support Facility in Golden, Colo. The firm-fixed-price contract, at $64 million, was risky, says Byron Haselden, even after terms were sweetened to include a $2-million incentive award fee and the contract adjusted so the team did not have to commit to a price in its proposal. Photo: Courtesy of Stantec Macey, Haselden and Andary (from left) are using the federal project to get more ultra-green work. Related Links: 2011 Award of Excellence Winner: Jeffrey M. Baker Closely Watched Building Lives Up to Expectations DOE’s
Hundreds of roofs in the Northeast collapsed after a series of winter storms swept through the region from just before Christmas until the week after Groundhog Day, with minimal thawing in between. The accumulated loads proved more than many commercial flat-roof systems could handle. Photo: Courtesy Town Of Nottingham, N.H. Roof of Nottingham, N.H., town garage proved no match for series of winter storms. Injuries were minimal, but as the tally of structural failures mounted, some began to wonder whether it is time to re-examine building codes if the region is entering a climate-change cycle that will trigger increased precipitation
While a demolition contractor clears debris and stabilizes the site of what the owner claimed was the largest sloped green roof in North America, a forensics team is investigating why the structure suddenly collapsed on the afternoon of Feb. 13. Photo: Courtesy Aquascape Freeze-thaw cycle following major snowfall apparently triggered collapse of large green roof near Chicago. Related Links: Ice, Snow Take Toll on Northeast Roofs, But Engineers Say Codes Are Adequate The 700-ft by 50-ft area of roof that collapsed was attached to a warehouse. There were no injuries or inventory damage, said Ed Beaulieu, vice president at Aquascape,
Large pneumatic bags designed to contain blasts from improvised explosive devices are finding a peaceful application in Egypt, propping the crumbling interior of the nation’s oldest pyramid. When inflated, an array of the 1.5-meter-tall bags will allow workers safely to stabilize the fractured interior roof of the subterranean burial chamber, itself buried under the ancient stone heap that forms the Pyramid of Djoser, south of Cairo. Built nearly 4,900 years ago in the reign of Djoser, the first king of the Third dynasty, the structure is the world’s oldest major stone monument, according to Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt’s
The U.S. Green Building Council says it is taking concerns about the exclusion of structural materials in the draft of the next version of its LEED green building rating system “very seriously.” Structural engineers are objecting to the absence of structural materials in credits for recycled content, regional materials and renewable materials, renamed bio-based materials in the draft. “It’s baffling to me,” says Mark Webster, a project manager with structural firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc., Boston, and chair of the working group on LEED within the sustainability committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Structural Engineering Institute (SEI),
The Minneapolis Metrodome, whose air-supported roof split under the weight of more than 17 inches of snow and ice on Dec. 12, won’t see any action at least until after Christmas. Photo: AP/Wideworld Crew checks out damaged fabric from a platform. Four panels will be replaced. The Minnesota Vikings moved their Dec. 20 National Football League game with the Chicago Bears to the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium. Other Metrodome events through Dec. 23 have been canceled as crews replace and repair the Teflon and fiberglass panels. Birdair Inc., Amherst, N.Y., which made and installed the roof, and Geiger
Photo: APimages/AN Heisenfelt The fabric roof of the Metrodome Stadium in Minneapolis collapsed on Dec. 12 under the weight of 17 or more inches of wet snow. Steve Maki, the stadium’s director of facilities and engineering, said a seven-person snow-removal crew retreated from the roof when winds gusting to 40 mph made working unsafe. Maki says that, early Sunday morning, one fabric roof panel gave way because of the snow load, which overstressed two more panels that also then failed. The roof was fabricated and installed by Birdair Inc., Amherst, N.Y., in 1981. Maki says three samples of roof fabric
Collaborative city greening is gaining international momentum, most recently with the signing of the Global Cities Covenant on Climate by more than 135 mayors attending the World Mayors Summit on Climate, held on Nov. 21 in Mexico City. Also at the summit, the World Mayors Council on Climate Change launched a web-based city climate registry, a mechanism for municipalities to ensure “transparency and accountability of local climate action,” according to the WMC. Related Links: Green Building Thrives in Shaky Economy Airports Push the Green Envelope The actions in Mexico City come on the heels of a Low-Carbon Cities for High-Quality
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