Education Facilities

UC San Diego’s new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building will support research and teaching in both health and biological sciences

dbarista — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 19:35:44 +0000

UC San Diego’s new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building will support research and teaching in both health and biological sciences

dbarista Wed, 09/04/2024 - 14:35

University Buildings

The University of California San Diego has approved plans for a new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building, with construction starting this fall. The 200,000-sf, six-level facility will be the first building on the UC San Diego campus to bridge health science research with biological science research and teaching.

Novid Parsi, Contributing Editor

The 200,000-sf, six-level facility features scientific neighborhoods for interdisciplinary research and education, using advanced technologies to drive discovery in academia and industry.

Designers / Specifiers / Landscape Architects

Architects

The facility aims to help meet a growing demand for modern teaching and research space across disciplines at UC San Diego Health Sciences and the School of Biological Sciences. Research and teaching will focus on the intersection of neurodegenerative disease, inflammation, immunology, and infectious disease—using advanced technologies to drive discovery in academia and industry.

The design by Flad Architects creates scientific neighborhoods that support interdisciplinary collaboration and education at the interface of biology, machine learning, and advanced instrumentation. The research laboratories enable flexibility in response to changing programs and research, while the teaching laboratories integrate experimentation, instrumentation, and computational analysis.

Rendering courtesy Flad Architects

The building program also includes shared research facilities, collaborative meeting areas, conference rooms, offices, and public spaces.

In the glass façade, perforated concrete fins serve both as a shading device and as a light shelf reflecting natural light into the building. The massing also creates outdoor terraces on each floor. The building’s upper floors are offset, creating the appearance of rotated stacks. The street level, with biological science classrooms and shared meeting rooms, will put science on display.

“The Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building will help solidify UC San Diego’s standing as a premier research institution in the field of neurobiology,” John M. Carethers, MD, vice chancellor for health sciences at UC San Diego, said in a press statement.

The project is designed to meet LEED Gold certification at a minimum. Construction on the site, currently a parking lot and service road, is expected to start in fall 2024 and conclude in 2027.

On the Building Team:
Design architect and architect of record: Flad Architects
MEP engineer: Salas O’Brien
Structural engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Construction manager: McCarthy

Designing for dyslexia: How architecture can address neurodiversity in K-12 schools

dbarista — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 14:19:13 +0000

Designing for dyslexia: How architecture can address neurodiversity in K-12 schools

dbarista Thu, 08/29/2024 - 09:19

K-12 Schools

Architects play a critical role in designing school environments that support students with learning differences, particularly dyslexia, by enhancing social and emotional competence and physical comfort. Effective design principles not only benefit students with dyslexia but also improve the learning experience for all students and faculty. This article explores how key design strategies at the campus, classroom, and individual levels can foster confidence, comfort, and resilience, thereby optimizing educational outcomes for students with dyslexia and other learning differences.

Sarah Knize, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Associate Principal, K-12 Academic Practice Leader, Ratcliff

Designers / Specifiers / Landscape Architects

Architects

Beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, California will require dyslexia screening for all K-2 children as per the recent passage of Senate Bill 114 (Education Code 53008). This means all local education agencies will assess every pupil in grade K-2 for risk of reading difficulties. As a result, it’s anticipated that a meaningful number of additional students will be diagnosed with dyslexia and other learning differences soon.

Those who are diagnosed will greatly benefit from early identification, tailored curriculum and services at their school. Architects who design school environments can help in the ways we think about spaces for students who have learning differences. Applying key design principles to spaces not only improves the day-to-day experience for students with dyslexia– specifically in areas of social and emotional competence and their physical comfort in a space– but these strategies also help those within a classroom who may be considered neurotypical, including the faculty and administrators. In other words, designing for students with dyslexia has the power to benefit everyone.

Dyslexia, a lifelong learning difference, is a neurobiological disorder that affects how the brain processes information. The degree to which it impacts learning and developing varies. Most who are diagnosed have difficulty with phonological processing, including accurate word recognition and reading comprehension¹. As our educational system relies so much on reading and writing, it’s critical to think of all the ways students can gain confidence and comfort in a school setting, where some of their largest academic challenges can occur.

Supporting Social and Emotional Competence in K-12 Schools

In addition to delivering their core curriculum, schools can take efforts to support students’ social and emotional competence (SEC) by bolstering confidence and resiliency². We see this happening in the built environment at three different scales: the campus level, the classroom level, and the individual level.

Students with dyslexia are known for their creativity and three-dimensional thinking³. At the campus level, there should be spaces where students can excel in the arts and design-thinking. Providing well-equipped, large environments for music, art, performance spaces, and tinker labs can provide opportunities for learning and development giving students the chance to recognize their strengths outside of the core subjects and thus build self-esteem.

At the classroom scale, confidence and resiliency can come with choice and appropriate tools organized and available for students to use without permission. At Winston Preparatory School, in Marin County, CA, their philosophy is to empower self-regulation and promote trying different solutions. In their classrooms students are given a sense of freedom and choice and this is supported by the classroom design. For example, a classroom with extensive flat countertops or shelves puts math manipulatives within arm’s reach, enabling students to select their preferred problem-solving tools such as blocks, empowered with how best they can learn.

Ease of outdoor access promotes vestibular movement and gross motor skill development, providing a reset when back in the classroom. Rendering courtesy Ratcliff

A learning environment should also support students at the individual level of ergonomics and body movement. Students with learning differences can struggle with concentration and staying still. Instead of expecting students to sit in rows and concentrate, flexible furniture options and permission to stand or sit during class helps students manage their body at the back of the classroom without distracting others. Chairs with casters, wobble stools, standing desks, and even foam bench seating are all adaptable to movement and choice. As Winston Prep Head of School Kristen Atkins noted, “We want to help students ask themselves ‘what do I need to do with my body right now?’ We encourage them to think about what might help them take a break cognitively, what will help them refocus? Whether that’s a certain type of chair, a walk outside, a drink of water. We give them options within limits but over time we get to simply say ‘you know what to do’.” Empowering students with options helps them build resiliency, and with resilience comes confidence to endure different types of experiences.

Improving Comfort for Students With Dyslexia

In addition to building confidence, architects and designers should look for ways to promote comfort for dyslexic learners. As Sarah Fox, Director of Research at Charles Armstrong School in Belmont, Calif., has noted “Classrooms by design can be uncomfortable. Anything we can do to make the teachers more comfortable and students more comfortable means learning can happen.” We see opportunities for comfort at three scales: the campus level, the classroom level and the individual level.

At the campus scale designers can make wayfinding and navigating to different buildings easier. Instead of relying on signs, we can signal a clear hierarchy of entry to a space with a taller pair of doors, a sculptural awning, or a special color. Designers can play to visual-spatial strengths by incorporating images, rather than written words. A connection to the outdoors with distinct, identifiable landscape features can be very valuable in helping students orient themselves around a campus.

At the classroom scale comfort comes from controlling light, temperature, and glare. Natural light is key. Atkins noted in her experience of moving from spaces with artificial light to natural daylight, she saw her students stop wearing baseball caps and stop asking for as much headache medicine. “It really was striking how natural daylight made such a difference, we reviewed the medical requests and we no longer were going through a Costco bottle of Tylenol every month.”

Acoustics of mechanical fans and blowers is another important factor for classroom comfort. The importance was noted by Fox, “Room temperature should be regulated but done so quietly. Fans blow papers around and between that and the noise of heaters turning on and off it can be very distracting for students.” Installing radiant heating in the floor is an effective way to provide thermal comfort as air does not blow around a space.

Wall surfaces with a balance of acoustic panels and writeable surfaces aid in learning and teaching. Seating options promote student choice and greater comfort for concentration. Rendering courtesy Ratcliff

At the individual scale classrooms with soft furniture choices, such as a beanbag chair provide a fairly standard comfortable seat. In addition to furniture, other tactile, sensory elements can help. For students with dyslexia who sometimes also are diagnosed with ADHD fidget toys and other diversion mechanisms can help the brain with the task at hand⁴. In every office at Winston Preparatory students can hold onto pillows with sequins that change patterns to provide a small place for movement without distraction. At the lobby area of Charles Armstrong School small ‘dimple pops’ are available for students to manipulate when meeting with administrators or waiting to be picked up. Offering small, hand-held ways to offer movement aids in comfort.

As neuro-research evolves, the links between our built space, our bodies and our brains will continue to become more clear. As architects, we already know we are making design choices that impact students and faculty on a day-to-day basis which can deeply affect learning and thinking. For already diagnosed or newly diagnosed students with dyslexia and other learning differences, recognizing the power of space to build confidence and provide comfort is critical at different scales to optimize school environments.

About the Author
Architect Sarah Knize, AIA, LEED AP, Associate Principal and K-12 Academic Practice Leader at Ratcliff, a San Francisco Bay Area-based healthcare and academic architecture firm known for creating inclusive environments that foster learning and community, designed a multi-year campus plan for Charles Armstrong School, a Grade 2-8 school serving dyslexic students in the Bay Area.

¹ Shaywitz, Sally, MD and Jonathan Shaywitz, M.D. Overcoming Dyslexia: Second Edition, Knopf, 2020.
² Domitrovich, C., Syvertsen, A., and Calin, S. (2017) – Promoting Social and Emotional Learning in the Middle and High School Years. Penn State University
³ https://www.ribaj.com/intelligence/dyslexia-enhanced-ability-creativity-inventiveness
⁴ https://www.understood.org/en/articles/fidgets-for-kids-with-adhd

7 steps to investigating curtain wall leaks

dbarista — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 16:27:27 +0000

7 steps to investigating curtain wall leaks

dbarista Thu, 08/15/2024 - 11:27

Curtain Wall

It is common for significant curtain wall leakage to involve multiple variables. Therefore, a comprehensive multi-faceted investigation is required to determine the origin of leakage, according to building enclosure consultants Richard Aeck and John A. Rudisill with Rimkus.

Richard Aeck and John A. Rudisill, Rimkus Built Environment Solutions

It is common for significant curtain wall leakage to involve multiple variables. Therefore, a comprehensive multi-faceted investigation is required to determine the origin of leakage.

Education Facilities

Government Buildings

Healthcare Facilities

High-rise Construction

Designers / Specifiers / Landscape Architects

Building Enclosure Systems

Building Tech

Building Technology

Cladding and Facade Systems

Curtain Wall

Products and Materials

Glass and Glazing

Glass Technology

Glass Cladding

Fenestration and Glazing

Resiliency

Curtain walls are non-load bearing glazing systems which span between multiple connections back to the primary building structure typically at each floor/level. Typically, such glazing systems (i.e., frame + glass + opaque “spandrel” panels) provide for movement at or near each anchor/floor/level, and are engineered for project-specific applications, and structural, thermal, and potential future environmental loads.

Whether a specific system was designed to be assembled piece-by-piece (“stick-built”), use pre-attached components (“semi-unitized”), or use pre-assembled panels (“unitized”) to reduce installation time, most curtain walls are positioned just in front of the structural members from which they are typically suspended (like actual curtains). In addition to creating a desirable material aesthetic, another core function that curtain walls perform is establishing control layers to manage and/or block the free exfiltration and infiltration of air, vapor, and water that would otherwise occur.

When investigating active leakage conditions, adopting a systematic approach to evaluation is essential. This is especially important for curtain walls and related glazing types, such as ladder systems, linear window-wall systems, and local ”punched” windows, that also rely on pre-assembly and attempt to minimize field-applied glazing sealant. Such products incorporate many layered, system-specific assumptions, technical design and detailing choices, and specialized components or subassemblies that can complicate repairs and exacerbate leakage if not adequately considered (even if correctly installed and maintained over time).

To increase the chances of success in your curtain-wall leak investigation, maintenance, restoration, or other troubleshooting campaign, consider implementing some version of the following steps:

1. Document all symptoms to identify defects and isolate problems in the curtain wall system

This activity should principally occur during the initial investigation stage and may be expedited by conducting detailed tenant interviews. It should be treated as an ongoing campaign to the point of resolution of all leakage. The investigation should include asking the building management company or Board for a whole-building leak list that identifies specific active leakage locations as well as any available historic data relevant to previous water infiltration issues and their resolution.

Additionally, reviewing system-specific maintenance logs and providing tenants with as much information as possible during the investigation process can yield additional system performance insights, facilitate technical review, and serve remedial scope development. General questions related to leakage occurrences include: where is the observed leak coming from? How frequently and how long has the observed leak been occurring? Are there any notable changes in the frequency or magnitude of leakage? Any information pertaining to the locations and magnitude of leaks can be helpful in determining the origins and solutions to the existing defects.

2. Collect and review original architectural and technical design documentation for the curtain wall system

Locating original design documents, or Contract Documents (CD), including any milestone design drawings and specifications that describe and define the final architectural and technical intent, is critical to forming an accurate sense of whether there are any design deficiencies or installation errors. Milestone CD issuances, addenda, and other post-approval filings should contain detailed system-specific descriptions and performance criteria that clarify the final design intent or scope “owned.” Approved shop drawings and engineering documentation that was necessary or required to fabricate and install the system or award the scope may also contain important relevant modifications.

More often than not, and particularly with older buildings, complete design documentation is unavailable. However, more can be learned by contacting the architect, historical building department records, consultants, contractors, subcontractors, manufacturers/suppliers, and maintenance providers that were originally involved with or have been servicing the property.

3. Review final as-built and record technical documentation

The review of as-built shop drawings is also crucial to understanding any in-field design changes that may have occurred during construction. Other technical documentation, such as the contractor or subcontractor shop drawings, may contain additional information relative to the generalized architectural details or as-built drawings. If partial or otherwise pre-final architectural design documentation is all that is available, probing specific conditions to verify consistency with the actual current existing conditions may well be necessary or practical.

4. Document existing conditions of the curtain wall system

Periodic documentation and verification of the current conditions of all glazing and cladding systems are an important and necessary part of the maintenance process for any curtain wall assembly. Components such as glazing gaskets, perimeter weather seals, operable vent functionality, etc., should all be inspected on an annual basis to monitor the performance of the curtain wall system.

The first phase of a curtain wall investigation should include documentation of all leakage locations and the conditions of the curtain wall assembly adjacent to where interior water penetration was observed. These observations can then be categorized according to their origin(s) and related curtain wall components that require remediation. Patterns of the curtain wall component(s) failure will emerge, and a comprehensive repair program can be developed as part of this investigation.

5. Evaluate symptoms to identify probable and potential causes or defects related to the curtain wall leakage

Once the symptoms and existing conditions have been clarified to the fullest practical extent, the curtain wall system can be effectively evaluated for probable and potential causes of leakage and defects. The most common contributor(s) to curtain wall leakage conditions include the following:

A. Curtain wall internal joints

This refers to any joints that are internal to whatever scale of “unitized” panel or “stick-built” module can be attached using two (2) typical fixed and two (2) slipped connections. Many manufacturer-standard “stick systems” rely on installing zone dams in the vertical mullion glazing pockets to redirect water into the horizontal transoms. Once redirected, water is then distributed through drainage holes located in the pressure bars and exits through weep holes in the snap-on covers. However, neither the dams nor the holes are always present. The continuity of primary inner glazing gasket sealant is also critical to this approach. Evaluation of any curtain wall leakage condition that is occurring at mullion assembly joints should include confirming that all shear blocks, zone dams, and associated fasteners have been applied correctly and sealed to achieve glazing pocket continuity (Figure 1).

The following photograph shows avoidable leakage that occurred due to poor sealant workmanship at the shear blocks and in the glazing pocket at the vertical mullion to horizontal transom interface. Horizontal mullions should be fully bedded in sealant at the shear block connection to the vertical mullions. The glazing pockets of the horizontal mullions should then be sealed to the vertical mullion glazing pockets. In the case of the leakage condition below, not all water was redirected from the vertical mullion glazing pocket into the horizontal transom glazing pocket. Water should have been directed to concealed drainage holes in the pressure bars and exited through the visible weep holes in the snap-on caps/covers. Leakage occurred as excess sealant in the glazing pockets at the horizontal-to-vertical mullion glazing pockets impeded drainage, and water accumulated within the system and penetrated poorly sealed shear block assembly joints (Figure 2).

B. Perimeter gaskets, sealant, spandrel panels, and weep holes

Glazing gaskets, sealants and glazing tape installed at the perimeter of insulating glass units, field-applied glazing pocket sealant, and secondary outer gasketed pressure bars with snap-on architectural caps/covers are all subject to installation workmanship and therefore do not always perform exactly as intended. Many common curtain wall systems have internal drainage holes in the horizontal transom pressure bars and caps, which manage any water that penetrates the secondary outer weather-barrier glazing gaskets. Damaged and deteriorated outer weather glazing gaskets allow for excessive water penetration into the glazing pockets and therefore exacerbate the potential for water penetration through internal curtain wall assembly joints. Over time, weep holes can become blocked/clogged with migrating surface dirt, wind-borne organic material, construction dust, and other debris. Slow drainage can cause water to accumulate within the system long enough for it to eventually find its way to other concealed defects or conditions where it can cause additional leakage (Figure 3).

C. Operable vents and windows

These are another common source of avoidable interior leakage. Often due to defects, discontinuities, or poor workmanship, these components can lead to poor long-term performance of gaskets or sealants. Operable vents usually rely on the installation of bulb-, flap-, or wedge-style gaskets between frame profiles and the concealed edges of insulating glass units (IGUs) for air infiltration and water penetration resistance. The performance of these gaskets is heavily contingent upon the workmanship of the installation of the gaskets at the manufacturer’s facility and the installation of the operable sash vent in the field. Gaskets must be properly installed in the window and operable sash frames, ensuring that splice joints are heat-welded or sealed depending on the gasket material.

Poorly installed “heel beads” are often the result of leakage through interior compression gaskets, glazing attachments, and operable vent sash perimeters, and can lead to premature deterioration of laminated and insulating glass. The “heel bead” refers to glazing sealant applied at the inboard perimeter of an IGU and its position relative to the face of the glass and outboard perimeter or “toe bead.” Defects in the heel bead will allow water penetration into the snap-on interior glazing bead (snap-on cover) and that often results in leakage through the operable sash corner interior assembly joints (Figure 4).

Latches, locks, and hinge/pivot hardware for operable vents should be properly adjusted and checked to ensure the compression of perimeter weather-barrier gaskets is adequate. Leaks often occur at operable vents due to improper adjustment of the window hardware and locking mechanisms during installation resulting in improper compression of the sash perimeter weather gaskets. Also, many buildings do not perform annual maintenance on the operable vents within the curtain wall assembly. This leads to misalignment of operable vents within the curtain wall frame, deterioration of perimeter weather gaskets, and inadequate compression of locking mechanisms (Figure 6).

The following photograph (Figure 5) depicts an avoidable leak that occurred due to poor “heel bead” glazing sealant workmanship in the manufacturer’s shop.

The following photograph (Figure 6) shows avoidable leakage that occurred due to improper adjustment of the pivot hinge and the locking mechanism on the opposite side of the window. Adjusting all components and visually confirming the compression and continuity of perimeter weather-barrier gaskets attached to the operable window sash resolved the issue.

6. Probes of adjacent components

Implementing global repair/restoration scopes is typically impractical without performing some form of exploratory disassembly or local probing to diagnose and define the extent of necessary remedial work. Consider whether any further testing scope, such as performing non-destructive dynamic/static air and water tests, will recreate the service conditions necessary to evaluate specific hypotheses about the origin(s) of the observed leakage conditions. Consider also whether any adjacent exterior wall and/or roofing assemblies may be contributing to the leakage conditions.

7. Test in-place mock-ups before implementing each curtain wall repair type

Once potential causes for each failure mode or leak type have been established, designate field specimens as needed to test each proposed repair method and demonstrate its efficacy in place. Develop clear pass/fail criteria for all testing to confirm efficacy of remedial details, material and product compatibility, and establish clear workmanship benchmark references for all remedial work.

It is common for significant curtain wall leakage to involve multiple variables and migrate or present itself at different locations within the assembly due to the interconnectivity of internal cavities, glazing pockets, and other drainage channels. Therefore, a comprehensive multi-faceted investigation is required to determine the origin(s) of leakage. This requires determining whether manufacturer or installation deficiencies (or both) are the root cause of leakage, and that will establish the remedial scope of work necessary to resolve existing deficiencies.

About the Authors
Richard Aeck is a Registered Architect and Principal Building Envelope Consultant at Rimkus with extensive glazing and cladding system design experience for adaptive re-use, cultural, government, higher-education, infrastructure, preservation, and restoration projects. Notable contributions include developing, modeling, and detailing the Harvard Art Museum 'Light Machine' sloped façades and serving as Envelope Consultant on the Columbia University ‘Forum’, 529 Broadway ‘Nike Store’ in SoHo, ‘Montgomery County Justice Center’ in Philadelphia, and USDOT Volpe ‘Transportation Systems Center’ in Cambridge.

John A. Rudisill is a building enclosure consultant with 25 years of investigation, design review, and construction administration/QC inspection experience within the AEC industry. As a Practice Leader within the Built Environment Solutions group for Rimkus, a leading global engineering and consulting firm, he provides consulting services to a wide range of clients, with a focus on new construction, recladding of existing structures, building repositioning, and repair/renovation of existing building enclosure systems.

New K-12 STEM center hosts robotics learning, competitions in Houston suburb

dbarista — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 15:34:16 +0000

New K-12 STEM center hosts robotics learning, competitions in Houston suburb

dbarista Thu, 08/08/2024 - 10:34

K-12 Schools

A new K-12 STEM Center in a Houston suburb is the venue for robotics learning and competitions along with education about other STEM subjects. An unused storage building was transformed into a lively space for students to immerse themselves in STEM subjects. Located in Texas City, the ISD Marathon STEM and Robotics Center is the first of its kind in the district.

Peter Fabris, Contributing Editor

An unused storage building transformed into lively space for students to immerse in STEM subjects

Designers / Specifiers / Landscape Architects

A new K-12 STEM center in a Houston suburb is the venue for robotics learning and competitions along with education about other STEM subjects. An unused storage building was transformed into a lively K-12 school space for students to immerse themselves in STEM subjects.

Located in Texas City, the ISD Marathon STEM and Robotics Center is the first of its kind in the district. Designed and built by Pfluger Architects and Bartlett Cocke, the facility is accessible to all students in the district. It includes an open, flexible arena to host robotics competitions and a control room for students to manage cameras and audio during tournaments. The facility also includes a fabrication lab for metal and woodworking, classrooms for advanced engineering courses, and a maker space for elementary students to explore STEM subjects.

Large bay windows and overhead and sliding doors flood the spaces with natural light and create an inviting, open atmosphere. Each design element and material used throughout the space is thoughtfully crafted to support students’ curiosity and growth.

A partnership with Marathon Petroleum Corporation helped the district offset the cost of equipping the facility, creating a bridge between career and technical education and lucrative jobs in the industry. Marathon contributed $1 million to the project.

The facility has already hosted several competitions for the district’s award-winning robotics team and is hosting robotics camps for pre-K through 6th grade students this summer to expose young people to exciting STEM careers.

On the project team:
Owner and/or developer: Texas City Independent School District
Design architect: Pfluger Architects
Architect of record: Pfluger Architects
MEP engineer: DBR
Structural engineer: CSF Consulting
General contractor/construction manager: Bartlett Cocke

Photo: Mariella and Luis Ayala, Ayala Vargas Photography

A former supersonic wind tunnel becomes a new educational facility for transportation design

dbarista — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 17:57:38 +0000

A former supersonic wind tunnel becomes a new educational facility for transportation design

dbarista Sun, 08/04/2024 - 12:57

Education Facilities

The Mullin Transportation Design Center at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., provides access for full-scale vehicular models, replicating a professional design studio.

Novid Parsi, Contributing Editor

The Mullin Transportation Design Center at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., provides access for full-scale vehicular models, replicating a professional design studio.

Designers / Specifiers / Landscape Architects

Engineers

Facility Managers

Adaptive Reuse

In Pasadena, Calif., a former supersonic wind tunnel has been transformed into a new educational facility: the Mullin Transportation Design Center (MTDC) at ArtCenter College of Design.

Designed by Darin Johnstone Architects (DJA) and built by Del Amo Construction, the MTDC supports ArtCenter’s transportation design program—known for the design of the split-window Corvette, the modern Mini, and the Ferrari F-430. The building provides access for full-scale vehicular models, replicating a professional design studio environment.

Almost doubling the wind tunnel’s effective square footage, DJA’s design converts the barrel-vaulted, 43-ft-high space to hold 31,000 sf of specialized creative labs, large-scale makerspaces, classrooms, exhibition areas, studios, and offices. The vehicle-intensive spaces facilitate design, research, and experimentation.

MTDC includes a 1,533-sf flex lecture space; three creative labs totaling 7,000sf; five 1,100-sf undergraduate studio classrooms; three graduate studio classrooms ranging from 1,100 to 1,600 sf; three 550-sf general conference rooms; 1,000 sf of administrative spaces; and about 10,700 sf of galleries and exhibition areas as well as informal gathering areas and circulation space.

Photo: Joshua White

Large-scale design projects can be showcased in the new gallery and exhibition spaces as well as a hovering mezzanine. The hovering elements nod to the building’s aeronautic history. MTDC also was designed to serve as a pedestrian passthrough and focal point connecting all of the buildings on ArtCenter’s South Campus.

Originally, the 85-ft by 220-ft MTDC space was home to a supersonic wind tunnel commissioned in 1945 and operated by Caltech as a testing facility for aerospace manufacturers. In 1953, it became a testing facility for General Motors’ automobile designs. Other testing followed for missiles, torpedoes, and parachutes, among other objects.

Adjacent to the wind tunnel space, a portion of the building was renovated to hold the recently completed, DJA-designed Mobility Experience Lab by Genesis, Hyundai & Kia. Dedicated to research and design, the 3,400-sf lab explores the user experience.

MTDC is on track to achieve LEED certification.

On the Building Team:
Architect: Darin Johnstone Architects
Structural engineer: Labib Funk + Associates
MEP engineer: Novus Design Studio
Lighting designer: KGM Lighting
Acoustical engineer: Antonio Acoustics
General contractor: Del Amo Construction

Before photo.

Photo: Joshua White

UC Riverside’s student health center provides an environment on par with major medical centers

dbarista — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 18:38:50 +0000

UC Riverside’s student health center provides an environment on par with major medical centers

dbarista Thu, 08/01/2024 - 13:38

University Buildings

The University of California, Riverside's new Student Health and Counseling Center (SHCC) provides a holistic approach to wellness for students throughout the UC Riverside campus. Designed by HGA and delivered through a design-build partnership with Turner Construction Company, SHCC provides healthcare offerings in an environment on par with major medical centers.

Novid Parsi, Contributing Editor

HGA’s design integrates medical, mental health, and wellbeing services throughout the two-story, 39,450-sf Student Health and Counseling Center.

Designers / Specifiers / Landscape Architects

The University of California, Riverside's new Student Health and Counseling Center (SHCC) provides a holistic approach to wellness for students throughout the UC Riverside campus.

Designed by HGA and delivered through a design-build partnership with Turner Construction Company, SHCC provides healthcare offerings in an environment on par with major medical centers.

Within walking distance of the university’s residence halls, the 39,450-sf center provides services in a single location to create a seamless wellness experience. In addition to health services, SHCC offers counseling and psychological services, case management services, and a crisis-response team. The center also helps students with essential needs and provides for students with food insecurity issues.

Medical, mental health, and wellbeing services are integrated throughout the two-story structure. SHCC includes a primary care clinic, women’s health services, laboratory services, a pharmacy, counseling offices, and a conference center. The lab services are directly adjacent to the clinics, improving communication among clinicians and lab staff and ensuring patients can provide specimen collection during their appointments.

Photo courtesy HGA

SHCC has 25 exam rooms, more than double the number of exam rooms in the former health center. As a result of the increased space for medical services, students enjoy more appointment availability for more efficient treatment.

Biophilic design elements include large windows that offer views of the mountains and the outdoor wellness court, a custom wood art wall design in the main lobby reception area, and wood ceilings in the counseling center. Blue, yellow, and green pastel colors decorate the first and second floor lobbies.

The building’s multiple entrances provide enhanced accessibility for students, staff, and visitors, whether they’re driving or walking to the center. One entry allows for discreet ambulance access for students needing transport to a local hospital.

On the Building Team:
Architect: HGA
Landscape architect: MIG
Structural and civil engineers: KPFF
Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineer: HGA
Acoustical engineer: Antonio Acoustics
General contractor: Turner Construction Company

Photo courtesy HGA

The University of Michigan addresses a decades-long student housing shortage with a new housing-dining facility

dbarista — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 19:17:29 +0000

The University of Michigan addresses a decades-long student housing shortage with a new housing-dining facility

dbarista Wed, 07/31/2024 - 14:17

Student Housing

The University of Michigan has faced a decades-long shortage of on-campus student housing. In a couple of years, the situation should significantly improve with the addition of a new residential community on Central Campus in Ann Arbor, Mich. The University of Michigan has engaged American Campus Communities in a public-private partnership to lead the development of the environmentally sustainable living-learning student community.

Novid Parsi, Contributing Editor

Located on Central Campus in Ann Arbor, Mich., the project will comprise five residence halls with 2,300 student beds and a 900-seat dining facility.

Designers / Specifiers / Landscape Architects

The University of Michigan has engaged American Campus Communities in a public-private partnership to lead the development of the environmentally sustainable living-learning student community. With RAMSA as design architect and architect of record and Elkus Manfredi Architects as interior architect, the project team will create a community comprising five residence halls with 2,300 student beds and a 900-seat dining facility.

The University of Michigan housing-dining project is “the largest third-party development project in the student housing industry to date,” James Wilhelm, executive vice president, P3 Partnership at American Campus Communities, said in a press statement.

The housing-dining project will help meet the demand among undergraduate students for affordable on-campus housing on Central Campus. The Central Campus residence halls will be the first built specifically for first-year students since 1963.

“This important new student residential community allows all first-year students who want to live on the University of Michigan Central Campus to do so,” Graham Wyatt, partner, RAMSA, said in the statement. “It will provide affordable and uniquely appropriate residential communities and amenities for the first- and second-year students who will live here.”

The development also will support the school’s carbon-neutrality goals. The housing and dining facilities will feature an innovative all-electric design, and the dining hall will use geothermal exchange systems for heating and cooling. Designed to earn LEED Platinum certification, the development will incorporate new energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, a high-performance building envelope, and rooftop solar panels.

To make way for the new Central Campus residential community, Elbel Field, the Michigan Marching Band’s outdoor practice facility, will be relocated, and a new teaching and practice facility for the band will be constructed a block away from its former site.

Completion of the $631 million project is slated for 2026.

On the Building Team:
Owner: University of Michigan
Developer: American Campus Communities
Design architect and architect of record: RAMSA
Interior architect: Elkus Manfredi Architects
MEP engineer: IDS
Structural engineer: SDI Structures
General contractor: The Christman Company

Empty mall to be converted to UCLA Research Park

dbarista — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 19:48:20 +0000

Empty mall to be converted to UCLA Research Park

dbarista Tue, 07/30/2024 - 14:48

Adaptive Reuse

UCLA recently acquired a former mall that it will convert into the UCLA Research Park that will house the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at UCLA and the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, as well as programs across other disciplines. The 700,000-sf property, formerly the Westside Pavilion shopping mall, is two miles from the university’s main Westwood campus. Google, which previously leased part of the property, helped enable and support UCLA’s acquisition.

Peter Fabris, Contributing Editor

The project will house the Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy and Center for Quantum Science and Engineering.

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The Research Park will make use of the flexible work areas within the property. The expansive, high-ceilinged indoor space will be used for research laboratories and offices. The former mall also includes a 12-screen multiplex movie theater that may be converted into lecture halls or performance spaces, allowing UCLA to offer programming across the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. The property is easily accessible by public transportation lines, including the Westwood/Rancho Park Metro station that connects directly to downtown. It is also minutes away from UCLA’s Westwood campus by bus.

The institute will draw on the expertise of UCLA faculty members, scholars from other higher education institutions, and other leading scientists and practitioners in clinical and biomedical scientific research, including human genetics, genomics, computer science, engineering, and information science. Researchers will pursue new tools, treatments and vaccines for cancer, autoimmune and immune deficiency disorders, infectious diseases, allergies, heart conditions, solid organ transplantation, and other major health-related issues.

The UCLA Research Park will also be home to the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, which conducts research in the emerging field of quantum science and technology. Research explores quantum computing, communication, and sensing, with the aim of dramatically increasing information processing power by harnessing the unusual behavior of subatomic particles. Founded in 2018 and operated by the UCLA College’s Division of Physical Sciences and the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, the center has received funding from Boeing and the National Science Foundation and includes more than two dozen UCLA faculty from the fields of physics, engineering, computer science, chemistry, mathematics, and biostatistics. The center will also house the Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Present and Future Quantum Computation, an NSF-funded initiative that consists of eight universities.

Photo courtesy Flad Architects

New space at the UCLA Research Park will facilitate greater collaboration between the quantum center and its partners and will solidify UCLA’s leadership role in this developing field, according to Miguel Garcia-Garibay, dean of physical sciences, and Alissa Park, dean of engineering.

This major acquisition—UCLA’s third in the past 15 months—is part of a transformative expansion designed to broadly extend resources and institutional expertise, deepen the campus’ connections to Los Angeles’ diverse and dynamic communities, and meet the growing demand for top-tier higher education across the city and region. Each acquisition has been an adaptive and sustainable development, repurposing existing structures for new uses while avoiding the need for major construction.

Owner and/or developer: UCLA
Design architect: Flad Architects
Other building team members have not yet been selected.

Here is the full press release from Flad Architects:
Flad Architects has been selected as Executive Architect for the UCLA Research Park Master Plan Study, which will include the development of a phased adaptive reuse master plan and demising plan to convert the former site of the 700,000-square-foot Westside Pavilion shopping mall into a new research park.

The research park will serve as a nexus for discovery and innovation, bringing together academic researchers, corporate partners, startups, and government agencies to advance fields of science and technology that have the potential to lead to previously unimaginable possibilities to address complex challenges.

Upon completion, the new Research Park will host two multidisciplinary research centers: the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at UCLA and the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering. The design will also include projections for future growth.

Uniting breakthroughs from biosciences, quantum science and engineering, and other emerging technologies has far-reaching potential to save lives and revolutionize healthcare outcomes.

The Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy will draw on the expertise of UCLA faculty members, scholars from different higher education institutions, and other leading scientists and practitioners in clinical and biomedical scientific research. Researchers will pursue new tools, treatments and vaccines for cancer, autoimmune and immune deficiency disorders, infectious diseases, allergies, heart conditions, solid organ transplantation, and other major health-related issues.

Founded in 2018, the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering conducts research in the emerging field of quantum science and technology — including quantum computing, communication and sensing — to dramatically increase information processing power by harnessing the unusual behavior of subatomic particles. It is operated by the UCLA College’s Division of Physical Sciences and the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.

The UCLA Research Park project is part of UCLA’s plan to expand the campus footprint through adaptive reuse and sustainable development, repurposing existing structures while avoiding the need for major new construction.

The expansion plan aims to greatly extend the university’s resources and institutional expertise, deepen the campus’ connections to Los Angeles’ diverse and dynamic communities, and meet the growing demand for top-tier higher education across the city and region.

Located on the 10800 block of West Pico Blvd., two miles south of the UCLA campus, the property consists of two buildings connected by an enclosed pedestrian bridge spanning Westwood Boulevard.

The project is scheduled to be completed in May 2027.

A Swiss startup devises an intelligent photovoltaic façade that tracks and moves with the sun

dbarista — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 16:02:44 +0000

A Swiss startup devises an intelligent photovoltaic façade that tracks and moves with the sun

dbarista Thu, 07/25/2024 - 11:02

Smart Buildings

Zurich Soft Robotics says Solskin can reduce building energy consumption by up to 80% while producing up to 40% more electricity than comparable façade systems.

Novid Parsi, Contributing Editor

Zurich Soft Robotics says Solskin can reduce building energy consumption by up to 80% while producing up to 40% more electricity than comparable façade systems.

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A Swiss startup, Zurich Soft Robotics, has devised a photovoltaic façade that tracks and moves with the sun. The company calls Solskin the first commercially available intelligent climate-adaptive building envelope.

Developed by architects and robotics researchers at Swiss research university ETH Zurich, the Solskin hardware comprises adjustable photovoltaic modules that serve a dual purpose: producing renewable electricity while also shading the interior.

The PV modules are mounted on a modular structure that includes all the wiring. The dynamic, lightweight system can be used on both new buildings and façade renovations. Through testing, the team also has confirmed the system’s extreme weather resistance.

When placed in front of a building’s windows, Solskin can reduce building energy consumption by up to 80%, according to ETH research. The solar-tracking modules produce up to 40% more electricity than comparable façade systems. In some cases, such as a south-facing glazed office space in Zurich, the Solskin system can cover the building’s entire energy consumption.

Zurich Soft Robotics’ recent innovation, Solskin AI, makes the system even smarter by leveraging predictive self-learning algorithms. With Solskin AI, the system can control the position of the solar modules in real time—achieving optimal energy efficiency and ensuring the comfort of occupants behind the Solskin facades. The use of AI helps address user preferences, weather conditions, and energy consumption.

Solskin’s moving elements constantly adapt to the environment, leading to increased comfort and reduced energy consumption—which will become increasingly critical with climate change.

All Solskin systems will have continuous AI updates, ensuring the energy-efficient, intelligent building envelopes are always up to date, with a focus on longevity and sustainability.

Courtesy Zurich Soft Robotics

41 Great Solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors

dbarista — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 17:44:41 +0000

41 Great Solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors

dbarista Tue, 07/23/2024 - 12:44

Great Solutions

AI ChatBots, ambient computing, floating MRIs, low-carbon cement, sunshine on demand, next-generation top-down construction. These and 35 other innovations make up our 2024 Great Solutions Report, which highlights fresh ideas and innovations from leading architecture, engineering, and construction firms.

BD+C Staff

AI ChatBots, ambient computing, floating MRIs, low-carbon cement, sunshine on demand, next-generation top-down construction. These and 35 other innovations make up our 2024 Great Solutions Report.

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AI ChatBots, ambient computing, floating MRIs, low-carbon cement, sunshine on demand, next-generation top-down construction. These and 35 other innovations make up our 2024 Great Solutions Report.

In January 2024, the Building Design+Construction editorial team invited the nation’s largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms to submit their single-biggest innovation from the past 24 months. More than 80 firms responded with well more than 100 submissions. The editors selected the top 41 Great Solutions. They are presented below organized in four categories:

Technology solutions
Design solutions
Construction solutions
AEC firm operations solutions

10 technology Great Solutions for AEC firms for 2024

1. Building system uses light, sound, even scent, to engage with building occupants
Submitting firm: Arup

Arup’s BREO occupant-engagement system has been explored in its Los Angeles office. Photos: courtesy ARUP

A first-of-its-kind system in the smart building space, BREO (Building Resource Expression for Occupants) brings a fresh approach to communicating and engaging with building occupants, especially around sustainability and building performance.

The system, designed by engineering giant Arup, monitors and translates building data—such as energy usages, water consumption, and indoor air quality—into an immersive sensory experience using lighting, sounds, and even scents. The objective is to encourage occupants to actively contribute to building sustainability.

For example, BREO might change the color of the ambient light to indicate how the building is meeting its power use targets, modify the soundscape to signify water consumption overages, or add a subtle odor to the air to indicate poor but imperceivable interior air quality.

“Occupants are already responding to their environment in myriad ways—adjusting lighting when the sun sets or changing the thermostat on a cold day. BREO builds upon this behavior and gives them more agency in reducing consumption,” states Arup.

Thus far, the BREO technology has been explored in Arup’s Los Angeles office and some residences with larger opportunities for implementation on the horizon.

2. Post-occupancy evaluation app yields future improvements
Submitting firm: LEO A DALY

Ryan Companies’ CheckpointPost POE tool uses a custom app, visual data-driven dashboards created in PowerBI, survey room schedules integrated through Revit 360, and an integrated room mapping system to gather feedback from stakeholders on successes and areas of improvement, thereby cutting the time spent on routine survey tasks.

CheckpointPost also fosters continuous improvement in design and construction practices and helps Ryan make informed decisions for future projects. One such assessment revealed an underutilized space that could be repurposed into rentable square footage. Another CheckpointPost POE exposed inadequate lighting in a critical gathering space. Both POE findings will be applied to the design of future projects.

3. Sunshine on demand in a Swiss lab
Submitting firm: ETH Zurich

The lab’s artificial sun consists of hundreds of LEDs fixed to a movable arm. Photo: ETH Zurich

On its Hönggerberg campus, Switzerland-based university ETH Zurich has established a Zero Carbon Building Systems lab, opened in the fall of 2022, that can simulate climatic conditions to test new building systems, components, and materials. The lab’s central feature is an artificial sun comprised of hundreds of LEDs fixed to a movable arm, allowing the system to imitate the path of the sun to test the effects of solar radiation. The outer walls, floors, and ceilings of the lab’s three research cells can be replaced with prototypes developed in the Robotic Fabrication Lab next door, to be tested onsite. One of these is a semi-transparent façade made of printed polymer, whose structure either deflects sunlight or allows it to pass through, depending on the angle of incidence.

In addition to the artificial-sun room, the other two test cells on the south side of the building are exposed to natural sunlight and the outdoor climate. Lab testing is currently possible for heating and cooling systems, ventilation concepts, PV and thermal applications, digital fabrication, human comfort, sensor development, and model validation.

Soon to be tested are 3D-printed components for façades that can passively conduct solar heat from the façade to the building interior or act as insulators if required. The lab is further developing an adaptive solar façade whose movable solar panels track the position of the sun, maximizing energy gain.

4. McCarthy SiteShift generates parking structure designs in minutes
Submitting Firm: McCarthy Building Companies

McCarthy SiteShift by McCarthy Building Companies is a collaborative solution for parking structure planning and design. The virtual tool allows for McCarthy, its clients, and parking experts to create conceptual parking layouts in a matter of minutes. SiteShift benefits from decades of real construction experience to inform its generative AI to optimize for space, constructability, and cost. After the iterative design process is complete, SiteShift creates a full PDF package from its 3D Revit model and provides clients with quantifiable data.

With SiteShift, McCarthy is able to focus greater time and attention on the more important aspects of a project. More at www.siteshift.io/p/1.

5. Get ahead of low-carbon building performance requirements with this early-stage design tool
Submitting firm: Arcadis

With Arcadis’ ClimateScout sustainable architecture design tool, project teams can identify climate-specific design strategies at the earliest stages of concept design that will help reduce a project’s operational carbon intensity. The free web-based tool (now in Version 2) offers pre-selected strategies based on the 27 building scale strategies from Architecture 2030’s Palette and the Köppen-Geiger climate subtypes. After clicking on a world map to select a climate zone, ClimateScout takes the user to a page to build a section combining appropriate strategies for a selected climate. As they are selected, the design strategies appear in real-time overlaid in diagrammatic form, providing an immediate visual connection between the climate and the architectural idea, according to Arcadis.

New to Version 2 is a carbon tool that allows users to determine the grid’s impact on operational carbon intensity. A world map provides grid carbon intensity for all countries worldwide. Energy Star’s Target finder can be used to determine the Median EUI for the type and size of property in the location selected. Using the information from Target Finder, the carbon calculator will estimate the carbon intensity (kgCO2e/m2yr.) and the total carbon emitted per year (kgCO2e/yr.), assuming the building is all electric. Different targets can be selected and calculated.

6. Interactive client portal opens door to project deliverables
Submitting firm: Gresham Smith

Pictured: Hestia dashboard for a hospital project in Pensacola, Fla., showing all design documents. Screenshot courtesy Gresham Smith

Gresham Smith’s Hestia interactive portal enables clients to engage virtually with their projects. The dashboard houses all deliverables—BIM models, renderings, drawings, project team details, statistics, final images, and videos—giving clients an up-to-the-second visual snapshot of the project's status.

Clients can view current drawings and navigate the space via Enscape 3D. Using Navisworks Viewer, they can inspect each elemental model simultaneously; for example, ensuring the HVAC system aligns with electrical, plumbing, and structural elements. A Power BI dashboard instantaneously provides project stats, such as the relative humidity of each space.

The proprietary platform's round-the-clock accessibility and robust security measures make it a reliable tool for clients to monitor progress and provide feedback—at their convenience.

7. AI tool helps Skanska share data internally and securely
Submitting firm: Skanska USA Building

Skanska’s AI chatbot, Sidekick, courtesy Skanska

2023 was a breakout year for AI, even for the normally tech-allergic construction industry. One of the frontrunners was Skanska, which last year introduced a proprietary chatbot called Skanska Sidekick, the development of which required collaboration across the firm’s functions and offices worldwide. Built on the Azure OpenAI platform, Sidekick allows users to upload and query personal docu- ments, such as meeting minutes, from which the program provides insights, summaries, and answers. Sidekick delivers the benefits of Generative AI tools while keeping users’ prompts and docs safe on Skanska’s Cloud.

Late last year, Skanska USA Building’s Data Solutions Team developed a proof-of-concept tool that indexed thousands of historical scopes of work while integrating project metadata from sources within Skanska’s data warehouse. The team has also created dynamic training materials to help employees understand strengths and limitations of Gen AI tools. These efforts can be seen as the culmination of Skanska’s five-year data investment strategy, whose goal is to better ensure meaningful ROI, improve decision making, and keep the firm aligned with AI’s rapid evolution.

8. Engineering giant brings ‘model-as-a-service’ AI tools to the AEC industry
Submitting firm: KCI Technologies

KCI Technologies’ new BRYX platform currently offers four online tools for AEC firms, with 12 more in the works. Photos courtesy KCI Technologies

This past February, engineering firm KCI Technologies became the latest AEC firm to market in-house-developed tools to the greater AEC marketplace. Through its newly launched BRYX platform, the firm has developed and released four online tools, with 12 more in the works.

KCI describes BRYX as a model-as-a-service (MaaS) platform, offering ready-to-run machine learning, computer vision, and computational models for AEC firms looking to utilize AI tools without taking on the model development, training, and management work needed to build them from scratch.

The four models currently available include:

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Detection, which analyzes aerial construction site images and quickly detects and labels PPE used on site, including head gear, boots, gloves, full body harnesses, safety vests, self-retracting lifelines, and anchorage points.
RobotFlat is designed for use on robotic warehouse and distribution center projects that require critical-tolerance concrete floors to ensure optimal conditions for robotic systems. It allows AEC firms to calculate concrete floor flatness and identify areas that need remediation.
Traffic Control Device Detection, which allows teams to quickly identify any missing or mispositioned traffic control devices and quickly replace, secure, or repair them as needed. It’s programmed to monitor and detect 18 distinct traffic control devices on jobsites, including cones, concrete barriers, lights, construction safety fences, automated flagger devices, work vehicles, and temporary traffic control signs.
Power Pole Equipment Detection analyzes utility pole images, classifying the equipment detected on the pole, including animal guards, bracket poles, bell insulators, fuses, LED lights, and crossers.

According to KCI, BRYX’s interface allows users to easily upload data, run models, monitor model performance, and access output files and logs. Also, its application programming interfaces (APIs) support rapid integration of models into third-party applications. Free trials are available for all the tools.

9. FOScore brings facility management to your pocket
Firm: FOS of CannonDesign

FOS of CannonDesign’s FOScore is an all-in-one facility assessment software for AEC firms and building owners alike. FOScore allows its users to assess and document facility conditions, featuring interactive visuals, AI generated asset information, and many other modules. The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) module gives facility management teams a 50-year outlook on the property, helping them and their clients understand its total cost of ownership. Other features such as the KPI module help track a building’s goals, from energy utilization to accessibility, safety, and security.

10. Producing concrete with less carbon output
Submitting Firm: Arizona State University

Narayanan Neithalath is leading a research team at Arizona State University vetting lower-emissions cement solutions. Photo: Bobbi Ramirez/Arizona State University

After water, concrete made from cement is the most-used material in the world, with more than 30 billion tons created annually. But the process of converting cement manufacturing’s chief ingredient, limestone, to a binding component cement clinker requires intense heat that emits CO₂ equal to about one-quarter of all industry carbon emissions. Manufacturers have made strides to lower cement production’s carbon footprint, such as Cemex’s Vertua cement that uses less energy to make. Last October, the National Science Foundation awarded a research team at Arizona State University a four-year, $3 million grant to investigate the feasibility of two lower-emissions manufacturing solutions: separating lime from limestone via electrolytic and hybrid routes without producing CO₂; and using autocatalysis, which provides energy from renewable sources. Narayanan Neithalath, a professor at ASU leading this research team (pictured), says that given concrete’s ubiquity as a construction material, stemming CO₂ emissions must begin at the production stage to have global impact. His team’s research, he says, is “baby steps” toward that goal.

17 design Great Solutions for AEC firms for 2024

1. Hidden in plain sight: This Costco is one with nature—and the community
Submitting firm: MG2

This Costco location in Mexico City is tucked under a sprawling active green roof, complete with sports fields. Photo courtesy MG2

Forget the $1.50 hot dog combo special. How about a pickup game of basketball or fútbol? Or a stroll along manicured gardens? Yes, indeed, this Costco Wholesale location in Mexico City is like no other.

Located within the Parque La Mexicana 70-acre urban green space in the city’s Santa Fe neighborhood, the 524,549-sf store, warehouse, loading bay, and parking structure are tucked under a sprawling active green roof that features a fútbol field, padel court, children’s roller park, green roof, and multiple hybrid basketball/volleyball courts. It also connects to the larger urban green space and jogging path via a pedestrian bridge.

Only one side of the building is exposed to the public. The other three sides are concealed using the existing landscape. “Montanitas,” or tall berms covered in native plants, trees, and grasses work double duty to camouflage the warehouse exteriors while minimizing the irrigation and water usage required to allow them to flourish. Green facade screens with native crawling vegetation planted at its base as well as cascading down from the roof above will grow over time to further obscure the warehouse and parking structure’s appearance, according to MG2.

2. Emory University’s new building keeps vibrations under control
Submitting firm: HOK

Emory University’s Health Research Science Building II houses 1,000+ researchers and sensitive technology. Photo: Christopher Payne

For its design of Emory University’s eight-story, 350,000-sf Health Research Science Building II, which houses over 1,000 researchers and sensitive technology, HOK had to mitigate vibration from a trifecta of sources:

• Site-borne vibration from an adjacent rail line was reduced predominantly by providing sufficient building mass at the slab in the vicinity of the rail line. HOK worked with a vibration/acoustic consultant to fine-tune the necessary amount of mass without requiring an undue volume of concrete.

• Wind-induced vibrations on lightweight elements of the building, such as trellis structures, were kept within acceptable limits through a study of those elements’ dynamic properties, including maintaining minimum fundamental frequency values to avoid resonance or flutter.

• Pedestrian-induced vibrations on the building’s floor framing were addressed through parametric interdisciplinary optimization studies to arrive at the appropriate balance of structural depth, MEP service depth, and location-specific vibration performance. This allowed for vibration control and space for high-efficiency MEP systems within laboratory spaces within constrained story heights. Perhaps counterintuitively, connecting the 20-foot cantilevered stairs to 15 70-foot-long pedestrian bridges improved the bridges’ vibration performance.

3. HVAC system enables infectious disease isolation space for ICU
Submitting firm: Studio+

Patient room at Lee Health Cape Coral Hospital ICU. The entire ICU can be turned into an isolation unit. Photo: Chad Baumer, courtesy STUDIO+

For the Lee Health Cape Coral (Fla.) Hospital ICU expansion, architecture firm Studio+ designed an HVAC system that enables the new addition to become a self-sustained negative-pressure wing, creating a much larger isolation patient space in the event of a pandemic or widespread infectious disease outbreak.

The breakthrough system was prompted by the Covid pandemic and the need for ICU staff to be able to adjust the HVAC system to create a negative space that would expel all air to the outside without any recirculation.

To meet this demand, the unit required a bigger AC unit that could support the exhaust requirement. It would operate as usual until the need arose to operate in pandemic mode. The new system has extra dampers and exhaust fans that, when activated by the BMS administrators (in conjunction with infection prevention) close off the return ductwork. Next, the exhaust opens, and the fan brings 100% outside air into the space and exhausts 100% indoor air out. While in this mode, certain room functions can be altered for isolation purposes; for example, the family waiting area becomes the donning and doffing space.

4. Heat sharing makes a research campus in Washington State more efficient
Submitting firm: Kirksey Architecture

Pictured: The Heat Transfer Building at the Energy Sciences Center, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash. Photos: Joe Aker/Aker Imaging

The Energy Sciences Center opened on the Richland, Wash., campus of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in January 2022. This $90 million, 140,000-sf, net-zero-ready building meets the U.S. Department of Energy’s Guiding Principles for Sustainable Federal Buildings, thanks to energy efficient design strategies that included a standalone Heat Transfer Building and below-grade campus-wide heat-sharing system. The heat-transfer building, which connects several buildings on campus, uses data center waste heat to support the Energy Sciences Center that was designed to prioritize cooling and heating sources with low-carbon intensity.

During summer months, the building’s below-ground Heat Transfer Water system acts as a central condenser water plant with a common cooling tower adjacent to the Center. In the winter, this heat-sharing network allows for free heat from facilities with a year-round cooling demand (data centers, process loads, etc.) to be rejected into the loop and reused for reheat of the incoming ventilation air in more heating-driven laboratory buildings. The building hydronic systems capture this waste in a 200-ton modular heat recovery chiller for low-carbon, heat-pump based heating. This system is supplemented by a natural gas condensing boiler that, at full buildout, is needed only during peak heating demand. The building team included Kirksey Architecture (architect, lab planning, interior design), Harvey|Cleary Builders (design builder), Arup (SE, MEP, CE), J-U-B Engineers (landscape architect), and Vibrasure (vibration/acoustical consultant).

5. Floating MRIs offer design flexibility and patient convenience
Submitting firm: CO Architects

Pictured: A vibrationally isolated “floating” MRI room at the University of California Irvine Health–Irvine Medical Center. Photo courtesy CO Architects

At the University of California Irvine Health–Irvine Medical Center (UCIHIMC), whose construction will be completed in September 2025, a vibrationally isolated “floating room” was a no-brainer design solution for all four MRI machines on this under-construction campus. Locating MRIs above grade alleviates these rooms’ notorious acoustic and vibration issues. Further, it protects imaging quality from the surrounding infrastructure. UCIHIMC places the MRIs centrally, at the entry level, for ease of patient access and within the imaging department, for uninterrupted care from staff and close to other imaging machines such as Xray. Key components include floor springs to elevate the room slab from the building, sway braces that provide a buffer between the building and the MRI room’s walls, and a self-supporting framed top. Lining the room’s substructure are layers of copper radio-frequency shielding and steel magnetic shielding. UCI Health-Irvine’s floating MRI room is a design first for CO Architects. The project’s other team members include Hensel Phelps (GC), Degenkolb (SE), WSP | tk1sc (ME engineer), Collin Gordon (vibration consultant), Nelco (shielding consultant), Newsom Brown (acoustic consultant), and CDM Stravitec (spring engineer).

6. Stantec delivers six schools in less than three years
Submitting Firm: Stantec

Prince George’s County Public Schools, Sonia Sotomayor Middle School at Adelphi. Photo: © Tom Holdsworth, courtesy Stantec

Stantec and its project partners delivered a first-of-its-kind bundled delivery of six schools for the Prince George’s County (Md.) Public School System (PGCPS). The school district’s existing facilities were overcrowded and aging, so Stantec designed an adjustable prototype to meet the individual needs of six new ones. The schools feature grade-specific academic wings, STEM/STEAM labs, media labs, production studios, performance stages, indoor gymnasiums, and more. Additionally, various sustainability elements include tubular skylights and large windows to increase natural daylight. Through local business utilization and a 30-year public-private partnership, PGCPS was able to save $174 million in deferred maintenance and construction costs.

7. Ambitious testing facility accelerates space research
Submitting Firm: Burns & McDonnell

Intuitive Machines, a diversified space company focused on space exploration, partnered with Burns & McDonnell to build a $40 million, 125,000-sf facility in Houston. This new space will allow Intuitive Machines to build, command, and communicate with lunar vehicles. Rendering courtesy Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell partnered with Intuitive Machines, a Houston-based diversified space company focused on space exploration, to design and build its new headquarters and flame range test facility. The first-of-its-kind concept integrates workspaces, laboratories, and testing facilities to foster collaboration and accelerate space research. By having the test facility located next to the headquarters, Intuitive Machines will benefit from lower testing setup costs, streamlined logistics, and full utilization of its manufacturing capabilities. The integration of energy-efficient solutions and streamlined construction processes resulted in cost savings for the client, creating a model for future projects to follow. Additionally, its 105,572-sf headquarters serves as the operations center for the company’s lunar program, which will attempt landing the first American spacecraft to the surface of the Moon since the Apollo program in 1972.

8. Canada’s first net-zero energy fire station
Submitting firm: GH3

The design reimagines the typical hose and bell tower form with a curving, south-facing roof. Photos: Raymond Chow

While achieving net-zero energy is now an ambition of a growing number of projects, getting there has many routes. Take Windemere Fire Station No. 31, a 16,490-sf building in Edmonton, Alberta, that was completed last June. The City of Edmonton wanted a highly sustainable project that would generate on-site renewable energy equal to 100% of the total building energy needs. The facility’s energy performance had to be 40% more efficient than the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings 2011, reduce carbon emissions by 40% under NECB 2011’s baseline, and operate at 80 kilowatt-hours per square meter per year for heating needs.

Windemere’s design reimagines the typical hose and bell tower form with a curving, south-facing roof sporting a PV array. A geothermal heating and cooling system is incorporated, as are high-performance windows and exterior doors, although the facility has significantly fewer windows than the average firehouse and uses bi-folding and quick-closing bay doors to limit heat loss.

The team for this $12.7 million project included gh3 (design and landscape architect), S2 Architecture (consultant), Urban Systems (landscape), RJC Engineers (SE), Smith and Anderson (ME engineer), Ecoammo (sustainability), and PCL Construction (GC).

9. POE studies validate energy, lighting savings
Submitting firm: LEO A DALY

LEO A DALY used 845 SageGlass electrochromic glass panels for the skin of financial services firm Carson Group’s national headquarters, in Omaha, Neb. The giant AE firm designed all building systems for the twin four-story glass towers and two-story amenity zone in concert with the SageGlass envelope, which allowed them to downsize the HVAC system and save $100,000 in equipment costs. A subsequent post-occupancy evaluation confirmed 15% energy savings in heating and air-conditioning and 74% energy savings in lighting use, with no negative impact on air quality or thermal comfort for occupants.

10. Passive House, biophilic senior living community promotes health and wellness
Submitting Firm: Cookfox Architects

Red oak paneling punctuates the interior spaces with bursts of warmth, providing a chromatic contrast with the cooler gray-brick material. Photo: © Frank Oudeman/OTTO

When seniors are more susceptible to breathing in airborne viruses and pollutants, the buildings they live in should mitigate as many health-related issues as possible. COOKFOX Architects designed Betances Residence, an affordable housing community for at-risk seniors in Bronx, N.Y., with embedded biophilic and Passive House principles. Designed to be airtight, all residential units are continuously supplied with filtered air to combat breathing in pollutants often found in the south Bronx. Active design strategies at Betances encourage physical activity among residents. An agriculture green-roof and constant views of the central courtyard instantiates biophilia, calming and connecting seniors to nature.

11. Developer-driven PAE Living Building comes to life
Submitting firm: ZGF Architects

The PAE Living Building is designed with longevity in mind, with inherently resilient and low carbon structural materials that minimize maintenance. Photo: © Benjamin Benschneider, courtesy ZGF Architects

The PAE Living Building is the first developer-driven and largest commercial office Living Building in the world. Built on an existing parking lot, the ZGF Architects-designed structure adds appeal to the Portland, Ore., historic district. Certain project financing decisions were crucial in getting the PAE Living Building off the ground: The location gained federal tax incentive benefits from being in one of Portland’s 11 Opportunity Zones, and partners offered their fees as equity. The building aims to prove that meeting the highest sustainability standards can be financially viable in a developer-driven model.

12. An orb girds and opens a cruise ship’s depths
Submitting firm: Wilson Butler Architects

To connect cruisegoers to the ocean experience, while providing more natural light, the team for Royal Caribbean’s new Icon of the Seas created a panoramic window wall three decks high and almost 100 feet wide. Photos courtesy Royal Caribbean

A goal for Royal Caribbean’s latest cruise ship project was to connect guests with the ocean experience, while providing more natural light in the lower public decks. The 20-deck-high Icon of the Seas, which embarked on its maiden voyage January 27, 2024, addressed this challenge by providing a panoramic window wall three decks high and almost 100 feet wide, that flooded its Royal Promenade neighborhood with natural light. To create an unobstructed view over the Lifeboat Deck 5, the window and adjacent café lounge were raised to Deck 6. Guests are attracted to this elevated lookout through The Pearl, a 53-foot-diameter white sphere lined with an immersive art installation. The Pearl doubles as a load-bearing superstructure that supports the decks above, freeing the space of any visible columns. Finland-based ship builder Meyer Turku worked with Wilson Butler Architects on the Icon of the Seas’ initial planning to integrate the Pearl into the ship. Mobimar, a Finnish engineering and outfitting company, oversaw the exterior cladding and installation of the art piece. Breakfast Studio, based at the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Navy Yard, created the installation’s 3,000 kinetic tiles whose movements evoke the ocean’s natural rhythms.

13. Anticipating the need for EV chargers
Submitting firm: CESO Inc.

Image by Sabine Kroschel from Pixabay

Failure to account for future demand for EV charging stations can be a costly mistake for property owners and businesses. Engineering firm CESO Inc. anticipates infrastructure demand for future EV ports by designating future locations of the ports and ensuring that conduits are strategically placed under paved areas on the site to prevent disruption in the event of future EV charging installation. A “No Build Area” shows where chargers will be installed to warn other utilities from digging there.

When it comes time for a client to install EV ports into a site, having the infrastructure in place reduces the implementation time and minimizes disruptions to the client’s day-to-day operations. CESO experts stay current on EV infrastructure regulations, permitting, and approval processes, to make sure its clients stay compliant with EV industry standards.

14. Bringing the built environment closer to nature
Submitting firm: Jacobs

Courtesy Jacobs

Since 2017, Jacobs has been collaborating with the consultancy Biomimicry 3.8 on large-scale built environment projects that learn from nature, to have a positive impact on all life. (Jacobs and B3.8 entered into a strategic alliance in November 2020.) These projects are designed to function like a healthy ecosystem and provide the same benefits. At its foundation, the Positive Performance Methodology recognizes the built environment as an integral part of nature, that can, in fact, function like nature, delivering the same suite of ecosystem services at the same performance level as local intact ecosystems. The goal of this multidisciplinary approach is to deliver campuses, communities, and cities that are regenerative and resilient. Jacobs’ work has included multiple sites for Ford Motor Company, which is actively implementing nature-positive solutions whose initial phases of development should be completed by early 2025.

Jacobs measures the performance of a site against seven key metrics—air quality, biodiversity, water quality, health and wellbeing, carbon and climate, water cycle, and soil—and then evaluates the proposed design intervention against those benchmarks.

15. 20 Mass converted into mixed-use urban hub
Submitting Firm: LEO A DALY

DPR Construction installing prefabricated bathroom pods at 20 Mass. Photo courtesy DPR Construction

20 Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C., is an adaptive reuse project that combines office, retail, and hospitality under one roof. Redeveloped from a former government building, the new mixed-use structure includes penthouse suites and amenities, street-level retail, and a 271-key luxury Royal Sonesta brand hotel. LEO A DALY reinvented 20 Mass with the help of field technology, such as laser scanning of existing structures, to inform design and construction decisions. Creative modular construction also played a role; the team engaged with SurePods for the hotel bathrooms, reducing waste by 50% and saving $500,000 in general conditions.

16. Partnership creates process for real-time design/constructability vetting
Submitting firmS: Perkins&Will and A. Zahner

Perkins&Will and Smoke Architecture designed the 26,300-sf Dawes Road Library, Toronto; A. Zahner fabricated the “star blanket” façade. Dynamic Design and Feasibility was used in the design of the 26,500-sf library/community hub. Completion: 2027. Photo courtesy Perkins&Will

Architecture giant Perkins&Will and fabrication partner A. Zahner Company have developed an innovative design process that elevates the quality and efficiency of projects. Known as Dynamic Design and Feasibility, the process provides transparent and continuous vetting of design and constructability, known as feasibility loops, that connect architects, designers, engineers, fabricators, and installers in real time. It results in faster decision making, encourages creative iterations, and ensures the delivery of high-quality solutions to clients, particularly for ambitious building designs with complex geometries, unique materials, and tight timelines. 

Dynamic Design and Feasibility has led to increased design productivity, higher design fidelity from concept to fabrication, and enhanced design excellence at Perkins&Will. The initiative offers protection against potential losses from rework and revisions, minimizing unexpected surprises and reducing the need for value engineering.

Perkins&Will and Zahner have collaborated on more than a dozen such projects, four of which will start construction this year.

17. Mr. Bond would approve of the immersive showroom
Submitting firm: Alexander Zilberman Architecture

Aston Martin claims that the “Champagne Frame” at its new Manhattan showroom is one of the largest single panes of glass ever installed in a New York City building. Photo: Merton Wu, courtesy Alexander Zilberman Architecture

Aston Martin—they made the DB5 that Bond drove in “Goldfinger”—commissioned Alexander Zilberman Architecture to create an immersive experience for its clients at Q New York, its new showroom at Park and 57th in Manhattan, while also giving passersby a deep visual dive into the showroom.

To complement the existing building’s architecture, the designers used super-transparent, low-iron glass with low-e coating and UV light reduction for clear, low-reflectivity views inside while allowing the highest possible VLT and energy performance.

Champagne chamfered metal panels and custom mosaic tiles within each of six column bays define the so-called “Champagne Frame” view from the street. The glass fabricator manufactured each 22-foot-wide, 11-foot-tall IGU to resist structural deflection and wind and moisture ingress.

6 construction Great Solutions for AEC firms for 2024

1. Talk about a tight squeeze!
Submitting Firm: DPR Construction

The Upbrella at work in Nashville, Tenn. It’s the first time the system has been used in the U.S., according to DPR. Photo courtesy DPR Construction

DPR Construction had to jam a five-story, 35,000-sf structure within inches of three historic buildings in Nashville’s busy Broadway Historic District. With less than a foot of clearance and no swing room for a tower crane, installing prefab exterior panels the traditional way was out of the question.

DPR turned to the Upbrella system, which uses a bridge crane suspended from the exterior of the structure to lift the panels off delivery trucks and onto trolley cranes mounted on a monorail that circumnavigates the building. Once the panels are in place, DPR’s self-perform team secures them to the floor deck from inside the building.

2. Cutting water damage losses
Submitting firm: Warfel Construction

Clearly tagging pipes is a component of the Wet Work loss-prevention program. Photo courtesy Warfel Construction

Warfel Construction’s Wet Work Program and Wet Work Permitting procedure identify and mitigate risk when working with active water systems. Water damage losses caused by work involving water piping, pumping, drainage, or mechanical building systems can be prevented or reduced by implementing a prevention plan.

The Wet Work Program includes tagging and identification of shut-off valves, posting shut-off valve location drawings throughout the work area, the use of flow monitors or water watch personnel, and readily available plans or equipment for containment should a leak occur.

Warfel expects the Wet Work Program to reduce its water-loss costs by 30% or more in its first year.

3. Offsite construction aids in adding eight aircraft gates for LAX
Submitting Firm: W.E. O'Neil Construction

Rendering of LAX’s Midfield Satellite Concourse (MSC) South. Rendering courtesy Los Angeles World Airports

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is building eight new gates in an accelerated time frame thanks to offsite construction and relocation (OCR) methods. Utilizing the OCR method, MSC South at LAX is being constructed in nine segments roughly a mile and a half away from the project’s site and, once complete, will be carefully delivered and assembled in place. Los Angeles World Airports is spearheading the concourse with a team that includes W.E. O’Neil Construction and Woods Bagot Los Angeles—a first-of-its-kind for offsite construction at LAX. Construction on MSC South’s core and shell is proceeding with significant project completion planned for 2025.

4. LIFTbuild’s top-down residential building concept comes to life
Submitting firm: LIFTbuild

Once the floor plate was lifted and securely locked in place, workers immediately commenced the interior fit-out, while assembly for the subsequent floor plate began on the floor below. Photo courtesy LIFTbuild

The dated approach of top-down construction has been reinvented with LIFTbuild’s concept-to-completion project, Exchange. The team utilized a “vertical manufacturing” approach to the design, procurement, and assembly process. LIFTbuild leveraged its assembly line model with a generative design process that could identify the most optimal building configuration based on budget and programmatic needs. The high-rise building itself consists of structural concrete spines and steel-framed decks for its roofs and floors. Estimates to a conventionally-built digital twin of Exchange revealed LIFTbuild’s technology offers schedule improvements of up to 30% and cost reductions up to 20%.

5. Top-down construction shaves eight months off residential high-rise development
Submitting firm: Goettsch Partners

For the One Chicago development, the basement-level excavation work and vertical construction commenced simultaneously. Photo: Nick Ulivieri Photography

Top-down construction is not new, but we may see more building teams implement this efficient construction method to meet increasingly aggressive project schedules, budgets, and client demands, especially on mega projects.

That was the case for Goettsch Partners, Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, Power Construction, and JDL Development on the 2.2 million-sf One Chicago residential mixed-use development in Chicago. Stretching an entire city block, the $500 million development features two residential towers—one 77 stories, the other 49 stories—connected by a 10-story podium and four levels of underground parking.

To help compress the construction schedule, the team turned to top-down construction, whereby the basement levels of the project were excavated simultaneously with the erection of the vertical structure above.

“By accelerating the vertical growth, our team reduced the schedule by eight months,” according to Goettsch Partners. “This method accelerated the schedule for a quicker turnover to the client, which in turn expedited turnover to rent units and sell condominiums.”

The top-down method is particularly applicable to large-scale projects with complex below-grade structural work and high-rise buildings. Goettsch said the combination of the height of the towers, four levels of underground parking, and an earth-retention system stretching an entire city block made top-down construction the ideal method.

“While construction was occurring underground, the tower was rising on top, which allowed for the windows, drywall, and other materials to be put in place to accelerate delivery of the apartment units,” the firm added.

6. Taking the pressure off pressure testing
Submitting firm: The Haskell Company

RAPTOR includes quick-connect ports for efficient setup and teardown and a wireless gauge for accurate PSI monitoring. Photo: Dysruptek LLC

Pneumatic pressure testing, which uses air or inert gases like nitrogen to pressurize piping systems, can be dangerous because it typically requires operators to be close to the testing area. The Haskell Company, a Florida-based AEC consulting firm, through its Dysruptek innovation and venture capital arm, has developed equipment called RAPTOR (which stands for Remote Activated Pressure Testing Observation and Recording) that minimizes risk via WiFi-enabled remote testing by operators outside of a site’s exclusion zone. RAPTOR is not only safer but less labor-intensive: Its design includes quick-connect ports for efficient setup and teardown, a wireless gauge for accurate PSI monitoring, and robust failsafe systems such as pressure-release and abort functions. Kickr, a product design, engineering, and manufacturing company, helped create the prototype. Haskell holds the patent on RAPTOR, and is pilot testing its second version with external partners.

8 AEC firm operations Great Solutions for 2024

1. Engineering firm launches student loan repayment match
Submitting firm: Kimley-Horn

Photo: Pixabay

In the battle for talent, AEC firms are pulling out all the stops to attract and retain the best and brightest. In January, engineering giant Kimley-Horn launched its student loan repayment match program. The initiative is structured to help employees build their retirement savings while paying down their student loans.

Once an employee reaches their one-year anniversary, the firm will “double-match” the employee’s 4% 401(k) contribution with an 8% company contribution.

In addition to the 200% match, for decades Kimley-Horn has provided a profit-sharing contribution to employees’ 401(k) plans. In most recent years, the firm has paid an additional 10% of employees’ salary plus bonus into their 401(k). The firm, therefore, provides a total contribution of 18% of employees’ salary plus bonus to their retirement accounts.

Kimley-Horn is using SoFi at Work’s Student Loan Verification (SLV) service. Kimley-Horn identifies eligible participants, SoFi at Work verifies the student loan payments, and Kimley-Horn’s 401(k) partner, T. Rowe Price, delivers the contributions for retirement matching.

2. Web-based platform tracks innovations at global engineering firm
Submitting firm: WSP

Dashboard of WSP’s Global Innovation Platform, a database of WSP’s digital, design, and process innovations, from ideation to commercialization. Image courtesy WSP

Engineering giant WSP’s web-based Global Innovation Platform enables its designers to share best practices, foster collaboration across regions and sectors, and solve problems for clients instead of reinventing them. From embodied carbon algorithms to noise calculation tools, from construction sequence animations to rapid structural prototyping for project feasibility, WSP designers can search for solutions using tags such as Equipment and Methods, Business Process, Design Tools, and Digital Solutions—and do so by practice area, project type, or innovations.

The searchable database of more than 500 innovations provides a description of the solution, current applications, associated projects, and contacts. The latest version added a third-party technology component that accelerates smart building solutions. The platform also tracks R&D efforts. One such research project is studying two ways to insulate historic load-bearing masonry without deterioration.

3. Training program leads to construction careers
Submitting firm: Messer Construction

Graduates of the Urban Workforce Development Initiative go on to careers with Messer Construction or its subcontractors. Photo: Messer Construction

When Messer Construction got the contract for the 650,000-sf, 249-bed Cincinnati Children’s Critical Care Building, it created its own program to move underemployed and unemployed members of the surrounding community—especially minorities and women—into full-time construction careers.

The Urban Workforce Development Initiative (UWDI) starts with a 12-week paid “work hardening” program through Easterseals Redwood Building Value. The training reinforces nontechnical job skills—teamwork, punctuality, safety, having the right tools every day—and exposes candidates to the reality of jobsite conditions without having to be on one.

Graduates earn three months of paid, hands-on training, mentorship, and professional development working as a co-op for Messer or a subcontractor partner. Successful co-op grads go on to full-time jobs with Messer or one of its subcontractors.

Each UWDI participant has a one-on-one case manager to help overcome problems related to housing, transportation, financial literacy, education, healthcare, and childcare.

To date, Messer has placed more than 100 individuals into construction careers through UWDI.

4. Quenching jobsite workers’ thirst sustainably
Submitting firm: Robins & Morton

The Water on Wheels refill station debuted last October. Photo: Ben Tanner

Workers on the jobsite of the 282,000-sf AdventHealth Riverside Hospital project in Riverview, Fla., were drinking water at a rate of at least eight pallets of single-use bottles per month. To lower that plastic waste and create a more sustainable construction site, as well as reduce the estimated $50,000 spent annually on single-use bottles, Robins & Morton, the project’s GC, developed a water-bottle refill station prototype, called Water on Wheels, which debuted last October.

The firm’s Sustainability and Innovation teams started by running an outdoor power source and water supply line into an enclosed trailer. The teams 3D-printed four water dispensers that are embedded into the side of the trailer. Inside the trailer is a chiller capable of cooling 32 gallons of water per hour at 50 F. The trailer is equipped with carbon and UV filters for purification. (Robins & Morton consulted with OSHA about preventing contamination.) The trailer also has space to double its filtering and chilling capacities for larger projects.

Since introducing its prototype, Robins & Morton has built two more Water on Wheels stations that are connected to the Internet for analytical purposes.

5. Diverse Partnerships Program builds lasting relationships
Firm: Shawmut Design and Construction

Team members from CKM Construction, Northeast Painter and Construction, CDS Contracting Services, Fisher Contracting Corporation, W. S. Anderson Inc., KB-Mac Inc., and TK3 Plumbing and Heating celebrate completing Shawmut’s Building Partner Series in Boston as part of the firm’s Diverse Partnerships Program. Photo courtesy Shawmut Design and Construction

Shawmut Design and Construction shows its dedication to supporting DEI initiatives with its Diverse Partnerships Program. The program is designed to provide greater opportunities for vendors, subcontractors, and suppliers that represent diverse communities. Shawmut aims to build lasting relationships and strengthen business opportunities with Underrepresented Business Enterprises (UBEs), aided in part by the firm’s Building Partners Series—a four-session, eight-course accelerator program dedicated to establishing long-term partnerships. To further measure impact companywide, Shawmut is creating systems to track UBE firm stats on every project to drive engagement for both first and second tier firms.

6. Client collaboration includes forming an in-house construction company
Submitting firm: Dewberry

This former department store in Peoria, Ill., was converted to healthcare administration offices, thanks to a unique construction delivery process. Graphics courtesy Dewberry

The Order of Saint Francis HealthCare system, headquartered in Peoria, Ill., operates nearly 150 locations in Michigan and Illinois that include 16 hospitals. In 2018, OSF HealthCare acquired the 118-year-old former Block & Kuhl building in downtown Peoria that was once a department store and would now be used to bring OSF’s 500-plus administrative employees under one roof. OSF collaborated with Dewberry—best known as an engineering firm—to restore the 288,600-sf building, a project that cost $150 million and took four years to complete.

To execute this project, Dewberry and OSF created what, at the time, was the first-of-its-kind construction delivery process that included OSF forming its own in-house construction company called PointCore. OSF envisioned PointCore becoming a national healthcare resource that brings together financing, operations, clinical, security, IT, construction, and maintenance. The collaboration also served as a pilot project for Dewberry, which would like to extend this strategy to future projects in the healthcare sector. For the OSF HealthCare restoration, Dewberry’s design team focused on zoning public and private spaces within the building, and on blurring spatial boundaries to invite the community in and encourage employee interaction.

7. Ambient computing brings collaborative digital assets to physical environments
Submitting Firm: Little Diversified Architectural Consulting

Project Fusion is designed to meet the challenges of multidisciplinary collaboration head-on. Photo courtesy Little Diversified Architectural Consulting

Little Diversified Architectural Consulting is teaming up with Metaform to explore the potential of ambient computing for hybrid work environments. Ambient computing—a concept that seamlessly integrates the digital to the physical world—offers the potential to increase workplace collaboration, efficiency, and flexibility among teams. Little’s first initiative, Project Fusion, was the establishment of an ambient computing lab within Little’s Uptown Charlotte, N.C., office to develop next-generation technology for co-located teams. By integrating ambient computing into the workplace, Project Fusion creates an environment where information and communication technology are omnipresent and accessible to everyone.

8. Gilbane pilots closed‐loop beverage system to reduce use of plastic water bottles, improve wellness for trade workers
Submitting firm: Gilbane Building Company

The team for Indiana University Health’s New Downtown Indianapolis Hospital implemented Kadeya, the world’s first fully closed-loop beverage system, in the engineering trailer for a three-month pilot. The station served over 250 bottles with a 99% bottle return rate. Photos coutresy Gilbane

Gilbane Building Company is currently constructing the largest healthcare construction project in the U.S., Indiana University Health’s (IU Health) New Downtown Indianapolis Hospital. At over 2.5 million GSF, the project will feature 884 in‐patient rooms and 50 operating rooms, 50 elevators, six linear accelerators, and two helipads.

The Gilbane project team is committed to achieving ambitious sustainability goals set forth by IU Health, including reducing embodied carbon by a minimum of 10% and supporting IU Health’s goal of making Indiana one of the healthiest states in the U.S. Additionally, how can the project team attract the hundreds of skilled trade workers necessary to keep the project on track, given the constricted labor market the construction industry faces?

Eager to partner with IUH on this sustainability mission, the Gilbane team introduced Kadeya, the world’s first fully closed‐loop beverage system, to the project team. Operating like a vending machine, the system dispenses high‐quality water and other water‐based beverages in custom stainless‐steel bottles. Construction sites have long struggled with the preponderance of plastic water bottles on site, presenting potential litter‐related challenges and an impediment to reaching sustainability goals. Kadeya was the ideal solution.

The team implemented a Kadeya prototype in the engineering trailer for a three‐month pilot. During that time, the station served over 250 bottles with a 99% bottle return rate -- a strong endorsement that those on site appreciated the service. Ease of access has proven to be critical.

Kadeya’s costs are equivalent to that of single‐use plastic bottles. And when workers finish their beverage, they return the bottle to any station. This approach eliminates litter and provides an accessible and highly sustainable approach to ensuring trade workers' well‐being. When extrapolated to
the entire project, it could save $300,000 in waste costs and increase worker productivity, health, and overall well‐being.

Following that experiment, the team decided to conduct a more extended implementation. The Gilbane team agreed to engage Kadeya stations throughout the IU Health jobsite, hosting seven stations.

The pilot results:

71% of team members expressed enthusiasm and stated they would be disappointed if Kadeya was removed, citing convenience and support for the innovation.
Achieved a remarkable 99% bottle return rate, showcasing Kadeya's purpose and resilience in the dynamic construction environment. It was evident that everyone was “all in” when it came to this innovation’s success.
The utilization of Kadeya averted over 250 plastic bottles from landfills and recycling centers, equivalent to 9 kg of carbon emissions with the Kadeya system; field experiments demonstrated a potential reduction of 295 metric tons of CO₂e emissions, equivalent to 756,000 miles or 65
gasoline‐powered passenger vehicles travel annually.

“Kadeya captures the spirit of our mission, impacting behaviors at a fundamental level. We get to deploy a service that serves our IU Health and Gilbane’s goals. One that improves the health, safety, and productivity outcomes on our projects,” said Aaron Perry, Senior Project Executive, Gilbane Building Company.

Education Facilities

UC San Diego’s new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building will support research and teaching in both health and biological sciences

Designing for dyslexia: How architecture can address neurodiversity in K-12 schools

Supporting Social and Emotional Competence in K-12 Schools

Improving Comfort for Students With Dyslexia

7 steps to investigating curtain wall leaks

1. Document all symptoms to identify defects and isolate problems in the curtain wall system

2. Collect and review original architectural and technical design documentation for the curtain wall system

3. Review final as-built and record technical documentation

4. Document existing conditions of the curtain wall system

5. Evaluate symptoms to identify probable and potential causes or defects related to the curtain wall leakage

A. Curtain wall internal joints

B. Perimeter gaskets, sealant, spandrel panels, and weep holes

C. Operable vents and windows

6. Probes of adjacent components

7. Test in-place mock-ups before implementing each curtain wall repair type

New K-12 STEM center hosts robotics learning, competitions in Houston suburb

A former supersonic wind tunnel becomes a new educational facility for transportation design

UC Riverside’s student health center provides an environment on par with major medical centers

The University of Michigan addresses a decades-long student housing shortage with a new housing-dining facility

Empty mall to be converted to UCLA Research Park

A Swiss startup devises an intelligent photovoltaic façade that tracks and moves with the sun

41 Great Solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors

10 technology Great Solutions for AEC firms for 2024

1. Building system uses light, sound, even scent, to engage with building occupants Submitting firm: Arup

2. Post-occupancy evaluation app yields future improvements Submitting firm: LEO A DALY

3. Sunshine on demand in a Swiss lab Submitting firm: ETH Zurich

4. McCarthy SiteShift generates parking structure designs in minutes Submitting Firm: McCarthy Building Companies

5. Get ahead of low-carbon building performance requirements with this early-stage design tool Submitting firm: Arcadis

6. Interactive client portal opens door to project deliverables Submitting firm: Gresham Smith

7. AI tool helps Skanska share data internally and securely Submitting firm: Skanska USA Building

8. Engineering giant brings ‘model-as-a-service’ AI tools to the AEC industry Submitting firm: KCI Technologies

9. FOScore brings facility management to your pocket Firm: FOS of CannonDesign

10. Producing concrete with less carbon output Submitting Firm: Arizona State University

17 design Great Solutions for AEC firms for 2024

1. Hidden in plain sight: This Costco is one with nature—and the community Submitting firm: MG2

2. Emory University’s new building keeps vibrations under control Submitting firm: HOK

3. HVAC system enables infectious disease isolation space for ICU Submitting firm: Studio+

4. Heat sharing makes a research campus in Washington State more efficient Submitting firm: Kirksey Architecture

5. Floating MRIs offer design flexibility and patient convenience Submitting firm: CO Architects

6. Stantec delivers six schools in less than three years Submitting Firm: Stantec

7. Ambitious testing facility accelerates space research Submitting Firm: Burns & McDonnell

8. Canada’s first net-zero energy fire station Submitting firm: GH3

9. POE studies validate energy, lighting savings Submitting firm: LEO A DALY

10. Passive House, biophilic senior living community promotes health and wellness Submitting Firm: Cookfox Architects

11. Developer-driven PAE Living Building comes to life Submitting firm: ZGF Architects

12. An orb girds and opens a cruise ship’s depths Submitting firm: Wilson Butler Architects

13. Anticipating the need for EV chargers Submitting firm: CESO Inc.

14. Bringing the built environment closer to nature Submitting firm: Jacobs

15. 20 Mass converted into mixed-use urban hub Submitting Firm: LEO A DALY

16. Partnership creates process for real-time design/constructability vetting Submitting firmS: Perkins&Will and A. Zahner

17. Mr. Bond would approve of the immersive showroom Submitting firm: Alexander Zilberman Architecture

6 construction Great Solutions for AEC firms for 2024

1. Talk about a tight squeeze! Submitting Firm: DPR Construction

2. Cutting water damage losses Submitting firm: Warfel Construction

3. Offsite construction aids in adding eight aircraft gates for LAX Submitting Firm: W.E. O'Neil Construction

4. LIFTbuild’s top-down residential building concept comes to life Submitting firm: LIFTbuild

5. Top-down construction shaves eight months off residential high-rise development Submitting firm: Goettsch Partners

6. Taking the pressure off pressure testing Submitting firm: The Haskell Company

8 AEC firm operations Great Solutions for 2024

1. Engineering firm launches student loan repayment match Submitting firm: Kimley-Horn

2. Web-based platform tracks innovations at global engineering firm Submitting firm: WSP

3. Training program leads to construction careers Submitting firm: Messer Construction

4. Quenching jobsite workers’ thirst sustainably Submitting firm: Robins & Morton

5. Diverse Partnerships Program builds lasting relationships Firm: Shawmut Design and Construction

6. Client collaboration includes forming an in-house construction company Submitting firm: Dewberry

7. Ambient computing brings collaborative digital assets to physical environments Submitting Firm: Little Diversified Architectural Consulting

8. Gilbane pilots closed‐loop beverage system to reduce use of plastic water bottles, improve wellness for trade workers Submitting firm: Gilbane Building Company

1. Building system uses light, sound, even scent, to engage with building occupants
Submitting firm: Arup

2. Post-occupancy evaluation app yields future improvements
Submitting firm: LEO A DALY

3. Sunshine on demand in a Swiss lab
Submitting firm: ETH Zurich

4. McCarthy SiteShift generates parking structure designs in minutes
Submitting Firm: McCarthy Building Companies

5. Get ahead of low-carbon building performance requirements with this early-stage design tool
Submitting firm: Arcadis

6. Interactive client portal opens door to project deliverables
Submitting firm: Gresham Smith

7. AI tool helps Skanska share data internally and securely
Submitting firm: Skanska USA Building

8. Engineering giant brings ‘model-as-a-service’ AI tools to the AEC industry
Submitting firm: KCI Technologies

9. FOScore brings facility management to your pocket
Firm: FOS of CannonDesign

10. Producing concrete with less carbon output
Submitting Firm: Arizona State University

1. Hidden in plain sight: This Costco is one with nature—and the community
Submitting firm: MG2

2. Emory University’s new building keeps vibrations under control
Submitting firm: HOK

3. HVAC system enables infectious disease isolation space for ICU
Submitting firm: Studio+

4. Heat sharing makes a research campus in Washington State more efficient
Submitting firm: Kirksey Architecture

5. Floating MRIs offer design flexibility and patient convenience
Submitting firm: CO Architects

6. Stantec delivers six schools in less than three years
Submitting Firm: Stantec

7. Ambitious testing facility accelerates space research
Submitting Firm: Burns & McDonnell

8. Canada’s first net-zero energy fire station
Submitting firm: GH3

9. POE studies validate energy, lighting savings
Submitting firm: LEO A DALY

10. Passive House, biophilic senior living community promotes health and wellness
Submitting Firm: Cookfox Architects

11. Developer-driven PAE Living Building comes to life
Submitting firm: ZGF Architects

12. An orb girds and opens a cruise ship’s depths
Submitting firm: Wilson Butler Architects

13. Anticipating the need for EV chargers
Submitting firm: CESO Inc.

14. Bringing the built environment closer to nature
Submitting firm: Jacobs

15. 20 Mass converted into mixed-use urban hub
Submitting Firm: LEO A DALY

16. Partnership creates process for real-time design/constructability vetting
Submitting firmS: Perkins&Will and A. Zahner

17. Mr. Bond would approve of the immersive showroom
Submitting firm: Alexander Zilberman Architecture

1. Talk about a tight squeeze!
Submitting Firm: DPR Construction

2. Cutting water damage losses
Submitting firm: Warfel Construction

3. Offsite construction aids in adding eight aircraft gates for LAX
Submitting Firm: W.E. O'Neil Construction

4. LIFTbuild’s top-down residential building concept comes to life
Submitting firm: LIFTbuild

5. Top-down construction shaves eight months off residential high-rise development
Submitting firm: Goettsch Partners

6. Taking the pressure off pressure testing
Submitting firm: The Haskell Company

1. Engineering firm launches student loan repayment match
Submitting firm: Kimley-Horn

2. Web-based platform tracks innovations at global engineering firm
Submitting firm: WSP

3. Training program leads to construction careers
Submitting firm: Messer Construction

4. Quenching jobsite workers’ thirst sustainably
Submitting firm: Robins & Morton

5. Diverse Partnerships Program builds lasting relationships
Firm: Shawmut Design and Construction

6. Client collaboration includes forming an in-house construction company
Submitting firm: Dewberry

7. Ambient computing brings collaborative digital assets to physical environments
Submitting Firm: Little Diversified Architectural Consulting

8. Gilbane pilots closed‐loop beverage system to reduce use of plastic water bottles, improve wellness for trade workers
Submitting firm: Gilbane Building Company