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Great Solutions

41 Great Solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors

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.

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Engineers

Engineering goes hand-in-hand with design, putting a practical lens on the architect’s vision and finding the best way to make it happen. Without a talented engineer, the project will never reach completion, and certainly will not reach the standards of functionality and sustainability that the architect and client are seeking.

Nov 2, 2010

Cypress Siding Helps Nature Center Look its Part

The Trinity River Audubon Center, which sits within a 6,000-acre forest just outside Dallas, utilizes sustainable materials that help the $12.5 million nature center fit its wooded setting and put it on a path to earning LEED Gold.

Nov 2, 2010

A Look Back at the Navy’s First LEED Gold

Building Design+Construction takes a retrospective tour of a pace-setting LEED project.
Nov 2, 2010

Wind Power, Windy City-style

Building-integrated wind turbines lend a futuristic look to a parking structure in Chicago’s trendy River North neighborhood. Only time will tell how much power the wind devices will generate.

Nov 2, 2010

Energy Analysis No Longer a Luxury

Back in the halcyon days of 2006, energy analysis of building design and performance was a luxury. Sure, many forward-thinking AEC firms ran their designs through services such as Autodesk’s Green Building Studio and IES’s Virtual Environment, and some facility managers used Honeywell’s Energy Manager and other monitoring software. Today, however, knowing exactly how much energy your building will produce and use is survival of the fittest as energy costs and green design requirements demand precision.

Nov 2, 2010

Yudelson: ‘If It Doesn’t Perform, It Can’t Be Green’

Jerry Yudelson, prolific author and veteran green building expert, challenges Building Teams to think big when it comes to controlling energy use and reducing carbon emissions in buildings.

Nov 2, 2010

Historic changes to commercial building energy codes drive energy efficiency, emissions reductions

Revisions to the commercial section of the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)  represent the largest single-step efficiency increase in the history of the national, model energy. The changes mean that new and renovated buildings constructed in jurisdictions that follow the 2012 IECC will use 30% less energy than those built to current standards.

Nov 1, 2010

Sustainable, mixed-income housing to revitalize community

The $41 million Arlington Grove mixed-use development in St. Louis is viewed as a major step in revitalizing the community. Developed by McCormack Baron Salazar with KAI Design & Build (architect, MEP, GC), the project will add 112 new and renovated mixed-income rental units (market rate, low-income, and public housing) totaling 162,000 sf, plus 5,000 sf of commercial/retail space.

Nov 1, 2010

John Pearce: First thing I tell designers: Do your homework!

John Pearce, FAIA, University Architect at Duke University, Durham, N.C., tells BD+C’s Robert Cassidy  about the school’s construction plans and sustainability efforts, how to land work at Duke, and why he’s proceeding with caution when it comes to BIM.

Nov 1, 2010

Vancouver’s former Olympic Village shoots for Gold

The first tenants of the Millennium Water development in Vancouver, B.C., were Olympic athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Games. Now the former Olympic Village, located on a 17-acre brownfield site, is being transformed into a residential neighborhood targeting LEED ND Gold. The buildings are expected to consume 30-70% less energy than comparable structures.

Jeff Yoders | Oct 27, 2010

Fall BIM Forum: frustration sets in

Although the theme of the Fall BIM Forum held October 13-15 at the W Hotel in midtown Atlanta was “…
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