Designing buildings for wildfire defensibility

Wold Architects and Engineers' Senior Planner Ryan Downs, AIA, talks about how to make structures and communities more fire-resistant.

Holcim and the Norman Foster Foundation have struck a partnership to rethink emergency shelters to turn them into sustainable and resilient homes.

Learn how MG2’s Sustainable Materials Evaluation System helps clients, prospects, and staff choose the most environmentally feasible materials for their building projects. Candon Murphy, LEED GA, Assoc. IIDA, Design Lab Manager and Materials & Sustainability Specialist with MG2, speaks with BD+C Executive Editor     Rob Cassidy.

This course covers design considerations for parapets. The modern parapet must provide fire protection, serve as a fall-protective guard, transition and protect the roof/facade interface, conceal rooftop equipment, and contribute to the aesthetic character of the building. 

This course outlines the attributes, functions, benefits, limits, and acoustic qualities of composite deck slabs. It reviews the three primary types of composite systems that represent the full range of long-span composite floor systems and examines the criteria for their selection, design, and engineering.

Mass timber construction experts offer advice on how to use prefabricated wood systems to help you reach for the heights with your next apartment or condominium project. 

Versatility, reliable performance, and relatively low installed-costs make prefabricated metal panel wall and roof systems attractive for sophisticated building applications. Owners and architects often collaborate to use these products in distinctive and aesthetically innovative design solutions. Manufacturers, recognizing an opportunity, have expanded their product lines with the aim of amplifying product use across a range of building types. Of course, no building enclosure system is without design challenges and considerations.

Pooja Jain, WSP’s VP-Strategic Innovation, discusses the pilot programs her firm’s new incubator, Emerge, has initiated with four tech startup companies. Jain speaks with BD+C's John Caulfield about the four AEC tech firms to join Cohort 1 of the firm’s incubator.