When it comes to collaborative virtual design and construction, designers and contractors agree that the fractured, adversarial traditions of the construction industry and limits on digital technology are the two monsters blocking a building information modeling utopia, or "cheruBIM," a world in which projects are built faster, better, for less money, with less strife and fewer claims. As far as technology, interoperability deficits stand out as the biggest obstacle to cheruBIM, preventing team member-users from sharing digital applications from different software vendors. Slide Show GRAPHIC: Fiatech The roadmap outlines technology-enabled information paths for the entire life cycle of a capital
Members of the International Code Council are all over the map about the revamped model code development process announced by the publisher of the widely adopted International Building Code and a dozen other model codes. Many greet the change with open arms, saying it will streamline the process. Others think the new process will stifle innovation, reduce the quality of the codes and allow special interests to more easily hijack the development process. The biggest change is that there will be one complete code development cycle every three years instead of two. A consequence of that is elimination of the
Canada’s $730-million Vancouver convention center expansion on the city’s waterfront sits on the best of sites. To the north are breathtaking views of Coal Harbor, Burrard Inlet and the North Shore Mountains. Across the street to the south is the city center. Directly to the west is the landmark Stanley Park. Slide Show Photo: VCCEP Team Related Links: Habitat Apron Cooked Up To Mitigate Impact on Marine Life Water Treatment and Reuse Reduces Use of Potable Water Photo: LMN Architects Building could not block street and park view corridors. But the 106,000-sq-meter project in seismic British Columbia also sits on
In seismic territory, something as simple as adding two floors to an existing building, even if it was designed to accept more load, can be complicated.
Samsung Engineering and Construction Corp.’s Kyung-Jun Kim, vice president and project director for the tallest building in the world—the 800-meter-plus Burj Dubai—cut his teeth on supertall skyscraper construction, building one of the twin, 452-meter Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Ron Klemencic, who at 6 ft, 6 in., towers over most people, may be afraid of heights but he certainly goes to great lengths to reach new ones, especially when it involves performance-based seismic design of tall buildings.
J. Patrick Kociolek, the lauded visionary behind the super-green reinvention of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, doesn’t let grass grow under his feet, at least not for long.
The new Green Building Certification Institutes, sister organization to Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council, is about to launch a total overhaul of the exam system for professionals seeking accreditation to design and build green buildings according to USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, known as LEED. The overhaul, announced at USGBC’s Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, Nov. 19-21 in Boston, creates a tiered-credential and specific tests for different types of buildings. GBCI, formed last month, will take over credentialing and building certification from USGBC in January. Peter Templeton, USGBC’s former vice president of education and research,
