Brad Pitt to design Dubai hotel

He’s one half of the world’s best looking couple, now Brad Pitt has turned his eye to making the rest of the world more attractive.... Read More

Ellenzweig Designs New UK Building

Ellenzweig, an architecture and planning firm in Cambridge, Mass., designed the new Biological/Pharmaceutical Complex for the University of Kentucky. The new 285,000-gross-square-foot building will be the new home of the university's College of Pharmacy on the Lexington campus. Now in construction, the building project began with an extensive programming process led by Ellenzweig Principals Mic...... Read More

Toronto firm designs waterfront development in Dubai

Toronto’s ZAS Architects and its affiliate office in Dubai are designing a $1.2 billion project that includes 7.2 million square feet of residential and retail space.... Read More

Toronto firm designs waterfront development in Dubai

Toronto’s ZAS Architects and its affiliate office in Dubai are designing a $1.2 billion project that includes 7.2 million square feet of residential and retail space.... Read More

New Killeen Police HQ Designed To LEED Standards

Design is almost complete on a new, 80,000-square-foot police headquarters for the city of Killeen, Texas. PSA-Dewberry is serving as the architect/engineer for the $22-million facility, which will enable the city to consolidate its police operations from four scattered buildings into one location on a sloping 15-acre site in south Killeen.... Read More

Unique Parking Structure At U.C. Berkeley

Walker Parking Consultants, parking structure design and consulting, together with Overaa Construction, recently completed the Underhill Parking Facility and Playing Field at the University of California, Berkeley. Walker Parking served as prime designer and project engineer, while Overaa constructed the garage and provided and installed the artificial turf for the field.... Read More

Barnett Dembek Architects’ Nordel Annex project fit for a feast

Plans for Nordel Annex, a commercial facility and banquet hall in North Surrey, have been designed by Barnett Dembek Architects.... Read More

Grand Designs Live builds house in 6 days

Grand Designs Live closed yesterday. Based on Channel 4’s hugely successful Grand Designs series, presented by design guru Kevin McCloud, the live exhibition has gone from strength to strength since launching in 2005. You may have caught some of the live show on TV last week featuring ‘The House That Kevin Built’. This involved building [...]... Read More

Construction Of World’s Largest Arch Bridge To Begin This Month

Home of the tallest building in the world, the first 7-star hotel in the world, and the first man-made resort island chains in the world, Dubai will soon to add something else to its impressive resume: the world’s largest arch bridge. American firm Fxfowle International’s design was selected by Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority as the winner in an international design competition.  The bridge will span a full mile and tower 670 feet above the earth.  With 12 lanes for traffic, the bridge will support traffic in excess of 2,000... Read More

U.S. academy studies ‘grand challenges for engineering’

The United States National Academy of Engineering has been conducting a fascinating exercise for the last few months.... Read More

U.S. academy studies ‘grand challenges for engineering’

The United States National Academy of Engineering has been conducting a fascinating exercise for the last few months.... Read More

Queen opens Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5

On Friday the Queen opened Heathrow Airport’s controversial GBP4.3bn Terminal 5 in a ceremony involving hundreds of airport and construction workers. This comes ahead of the opening for business on 27 March. The building itself, designed by Richard Rogers, features a number of new technologies which we have reported on previously in Buildingtalk. For example, [...]... Read More

Too much celebrating?

Alleging serious design and construction defects in its Stata Center, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology just sued two heavyweights: Frank Gehry's firm, Gehry Partners, based in L.A., and Skanska. The Stata Center opened to much acclaim in 2004, when Mr. Gehry observed that "it looks like a party of drunken robots got together to celebrate." Three years later, there's a lot of finger pointing going on. Not surprisingly, Gehry claims that "the issues are fairly minor" and that MIT's value engineering is to blame, while Skanska alleges that Gehry... Read More

ODA selects Olympic Park design team

A team of LDA Design and Hargreaves Associates has been selected by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to design the Olympic Park for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.... Read More

AIA 2008 Housing Award Recipients Revealed

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the 19 recipients of the 2008 Housing Awards. The AIA’s Housing Awards Program, now in its eighth year, was established to recognize the best in housing design and promote the importance of good housing as a necessity of life, a sanctuary for the human spirit and a valuable national resource.... Read More

Landscape/Architecture Firms Growing Closer

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Engineering Firm Plans Tower Twice as Tall as Burj Dubai

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Will “smart streets” offer more opportunity?

Want to get a little insight into what your paving, striping, or sealcoating job might involve in the not-too-distant future? Take a look at what 52 towns and cities, six counties, and 10 regional governments have already instituted. The American Association of Retired Persons AARP Bulletin (I read it in the checkout line) reports that walkers, bikers, and the disabled might be the driving forces behind major changes to city streets and intersections. In an article titled StreetSmart AARP focuses on Kirkland, WA, which it says might just have... Read More

Construction Cost Increases for Four Structure Types Range from 2.3% to 4.2% in January

A typical parking garage had the largest year-over-year increase in construction costs in January 2008 (+4.2% on average for 25 cities) among four type-of-structure categories monitored by RSMeans. In second place was a community center (+3.6%), followed by a town hall (+2.8%) and an underground parking structure (+2.3%). As for the actual dollar-per-square-foot cost of construction, a town hall is most expensive, followed by a community center, an underground parking structure and a parking garage.... Read More

Building life cycle costs explored in seminar

The life cycle cost of building operation can be lowered by implementing sustainable maintenance and repair practices.... Read More

How do you fix an undersea cable?

Four [now 5] undersea telecom cables have broken in the past week, cutting off or severely slowing Internet traffic in countries along the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. In an "Explainer" column first published last year and reprinted below, Lindsay Goldwert looked into how exactly they fix cables thousands of miles long and located thousands of feet under the waves.... Read More

Multiple Errors Led To Beam Failure

Design, material, fabrication and construction errors led to the Feb. 5, 2007, collapse of a steel beam and its floor slab at the nearly six-year-old David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, says a report released last week.... Read More

Electrical design/drafting software

Design Master Electrical 7.0 is an update to the company’s integrated electrical design and drafting software program.... Read More

Can Cultural Differences Derail Project Success?

Today’s complex mega infrastructure projects require the formation of joint ventures and other type of associations in order to have either the talent, skills and/or monetary funds required to complete the project.  Because of the nature of mega projects, owners, financial agencies, contractors, sub-contractors, vendors and suppliers, often come from different cultural backgrounds-much as the direct result of globalization. Differences in approaches, values, and experiences have led to many mega-project failures.  Therefore it is imperative to understand the impact of cross-cultural differences among the team players in order for... Read More

SDA Audio Seminar - The Generational Challenges for Design Firms

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Owner, Engineer and Contractor Risk Responsibility

    Every owner, engineer and contractor in the industry is passing through a period when it seems almost impossible for all parties to meet their respective cost, schedule and quality goals. In the vast majority of instances it has nothing to do with the physical process of designing or constructing a project but with the systems by which each party attempts to manage those physical processes. In a society that has become more litigious with each day of delay and each dollar of cost overrun, parties are attempting to... Read More

Settling a Project- How Not to Screw Up

Specifications Consultant and former CSI President Terry Strong explains why the Geotechnical report is not part of the contract documents How Not to Screw Up Forum :: Share a lesson you learned- the hard way. File Download (9:32 min / 9 MB)... Read More

Architect's Handbook of Construction Detailing

By David Kent Ballast. Building News, Inc.. Price: $74. Publish Date: 10/2001... Read More

Is it Time For Engineering Education Reform?

At one time, engineers were esteemed by the public as both visionaries and leaders in a noble profession essential to the welfare of humankind. Today, though, engineers are viewed by many simply as mere advisors and technicians. The public’s perception of the engineer is on a downward spiral, along with the enrollment of young people into our engineering schools. Engineers are facing critical challenges and questions by the public in light of the recent bridge collapses in Minnesota and Vietnam and lingering issues with natural disasters such as Katrina... Read More

Is Engineering Education in Need of Reform?

In the 21st century, an ever-increasing need will emerge for a holistic breed of engineer—one who can work across borders, cultural boundaries, and social contexts and who can work effectively with nonengineers. As the trend toward a more global and more knowledge-based society continues, the practice of engineering must be changed, and this change must be accomplished through engineering education reform. The engineering curriculum can no longer remain as it has for essentially the past 40 years. The subjects of globalization, diversity, world cultures and languages, communication, leadership, and... Read More

Building Plans: Implied Warranty of Accuracy

A well-settled principle in Maryland construction law is if a contractor is bound to build a project in accordance to the plans and specifications prepared by the building owner, the contractor will not be responsible for the consequences of defects in the plans and specifications. This responsibility to the contractor is not affected by standard contract clauses requiring contractors to visit the site, check the plans, and to inform themselves of the requirements of the work. Plans and specifications provided by an owner contain an “implied warranty” of accuracy.... Read More

Sir Norman Foster to Give Moscow World’s Largest Building

Moscow may soon be home to the world’s largest building, described as a city-within-a-city, and four times the area of the Pentagon.  Dubbed ‘Crystal Island’, it will cover 27 million square feet and stand roughly 1500 feet tall, and comes with a price tag of $4 billion. Just what will this building contain?  3000 hotel rooms, 900 apartments, a 500 student international school, a museum, cinemas, theaters, a sports complex, and a plethora of shops.  The idea is to have every desirable amenity within a comfortable, indoor walking distance.  It will... Read More

Public Agencies Face New Restrictions in Contracting with Design Professionals

With the enactment of AB 573 (Wolk), many California public agencies face new restrictions on the indemnity protections they can require when engaging design professionals. The new law applies to contracts (or amendments to existing contracts) entered into after January 1, 2007 with (1) licensed architects; (2) licensed landscape architects; (3) registered professional engineers; and (4) licensed professional land surveyors. The new law, which adds Section 2782.8 to the California Civil Code, provides that agreements between most public agencies and the listed types of design professionals may only require... Read More

Closing the Books on Boston's 'Big Dig'

Boston's massive highway and infrastructure project, the much-delayed, much-criticized "Big Dig," will officially be finished as 2007 comes to a close. Over the years, the price tag for the project soared from $2.6 billion to $14.8 billion. (Audio)... Read More

Restrictions on State of California's ability to contract with private engineering firms struck down by California Supreme Court

On November 5, 2007, the California Supreme Court held that the State of California could not enter into a memorandum of understanding with an engineering union which restricted the State from hiring and retaining private engineering firms where such restrictions were barred by a recent amendment to the state constitution. (See Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California, Inc. v. Professional Engineers in California Government, 2007 Cal. LEXIS 12680.) In November 2000, California’s voters approved Proposition 35, adding art. XXII to the state constitution.  Art. XXII allowed the state... Read More

Third Circuit Court of Appeals holds that state's ability to contract for private architectural and engineering services mandated by California constitution