Administration, Maintenance and Operations Facility in South Bend achieves LEED Platinum

The Emil ‘Lucky’ Reznik Administration, Maintenance & Operations Facility has been certified LEED Platinum for New Construction by the USGBC.
RNL, in association with Forum Architects of South Bend, Indiana, and Maintenance Design Group, designed the Reznik Facility for the South Bend Public Transportation Corp.
The facility achieved 52 LEED points, including those for site selection, energy, materials and resources and innovation. At 164,200 sf, the facility is designed to embody the natural connection between sustainability and public transportation.
To compliment the many sustainable features in the Reznik Facility and to promote facility and community education, a digital display inside the lobby provides up-to-date information about the amount of energy the building is creating from its 92 kW photovoltaic roof panels. The system also tracks the amount of potable water saved from water-reducing lavatory fixtures and the facility’s recycled-water bus wash system, as well as the amount of storm water that has been detained on site. BD+C

Thanks to a $45 million federal appropriation to the Smithsonian Institution, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., has broken ground on what is expected to be one of the most energy-efficient laboratories in the country. The 69,000-sf lab is targeting LEED Gold and is expected to use 37% less energy and emit 37% less carbon dioxide than a similar building.

| May 25, 2011

World’s tallest building now available in smaller size

Emaar Properties teamed up with LEGO to create a miniature version of the Burj Khalifa as part of the LEGO Architecture series. Currently, the LEGO Burj Khalifa is available only in Dubai, but come June 1, 2011, it will be available worldwide.

| May 25, 2011

Developers push Manhattan office construction

Manhattan developers are planning the city's biggest decade of office construction since the 1980s, betting on rising demand for modern space even with tenants unsigned and the availability of financing more limited. More than 25 million sf of projects are under construction or may be built in the next nine years.