The British government's new 46,285-sf embassy building in Warsaw, Poland's diplomatic quarter houses the ambassador's offices, the consulate, and visa services on three floors. The $20 million Modernist design by London-based Tony Fretton Architects features a double façade—an inner concrete super structure and an outer curtain wall. The building-within-a-building addresses safety and security concerns, but also serves as a thermal buffer during harsh Polish winters and as a thermal chimney to draw out warm air during the summer. The glazing has a silver coating and aluminum cladding has a bronze finish to soften the building's massing.
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Morphosis builds 'floating' house for Brad Pitt's Make It Right New Orleans foundation
Morphosis Architects, under the direction of renowned architect and UCLA professor Thom Mayne, has completed the first floating house permitted in the U.S. for Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation in New Orleans.The FLOAT House is a new model for flood-safe, affordable, and sustainable housing that is designed to float securely with rising water levels.
| Aug 11, 2010
SPRI expands membership to include green roof and photovoltaic component suppliers
SPRI, the association representing sheet membrane and component suppliers to the commercial roofing industry, recently approved a bylaw revision expanding its membership to include companies that represent emerging technologies, such as photovoltaic and vegetative roof components.
| Aug 11, 2010
Halsey Taylor introduces 14-gauge, vandal-resistant water coolers
Adding to its extensive collection of high-quality, durable drinking fountains and water coolers, Halsey Taylor introduces the new 14 Gauge Vandal-resistant Water Cooler. Available in both single and bi-level models (HVR8HD, HVR8HD-BL), this new water cooler line is ideal for any high-traffic application, especially those prone to tampering or misuse, such as schools, recreation centers and correctional facilities.
| Aug 11, 2010
New air-conditioning design standard allows for increased air speed to cool building interiors
Building occupants, who may soon feel cooler from increased air movement, can thank a committee of building science specialists. The committee in charge of ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55 - Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy—after months of study and discussion--has voted recently to allow increased air speed as an option for cooling building interiors. In lay terms, increased air speed is the equivalent of turning up the fan.
| Aug 11, 2010
PCA partners with MIT on concrete research center
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| Aug 11, 2010
Study explains the financial value of green commercial buildings
Green building may be booming, especially in the Northwest, but the claims made for high-performance buildings have been slow to gain traction in the financial community. Appraisers, lenders, investors and brokers have found it difficult to confirm the value of high-performance green features and related savings. A new study of office buildings identifies how high-performance green features and systems can increase the value of commercial buildings.
| Aug 11, 2010
VA San Diego Healthcare System Building 1 Seismic Correction
San Diego, Calif.
Three decades after its original construction in the early 1970s, the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System Building 1 fell far short of current seismic codes. This not only put the building and its occupants—patients, doctors, nurses, visitors, and administrative staff—at risk in the event of a major earthquake, it violated a California state mandate requiring all hospitals to either retrofit or rebuild.