Code allowance offers retailers and commercial building owners increased energy savings and reduced construction costs

The addition of air curtains in the International Green Construction Code (IgCC), the new comprehensive high performance green building code, promises energy and construction cost savings for commercial, industrial and institutional buildings.

Specifying air curtains as energy-saving, cost-cutting alternatives to vestibules in 3,000-square-foot buildings and larger has been a recent trend among consulting engineers and architects. However, many times specifications are blocked by local jurisdictions that have adopted the International Energy Construction Code (IECC), which doesn't yet sight air curtains as vestibule alternatives.

Thus, the newly-enacted IgCC, which is scheduled for March 2012 publishing, now provides an approved overlay of green construction products to the base code IECC, which is overseen by the International Code Council, the Washington-based organization responsible for providing minimum safety, sustainability and affordability building codes and standards.

Recent proposals to the IgCC by the Air Movement and Control Association International (AMCA), Arlington Heights, Ill., helped establish air curtains as a vestibule alternative with the stipulation that they're tested in accordance with ANSI/AMCA Standard 220-05, "Laboratory Methods of Testing Air Curtains for Aerodynamics Performance Ratings."

Also helpful in the code modification effort were recent studies proving air curtains as 10% more energy-efficient than vestibules. The three-month research study “Air Curtains: A Proven Alternative to Vestibule Design” used second-party validation from research/validation consultant, Blue Ridge Numerics, Charlottesville, Va., with certified results from proven computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis.

Besides energy savings, vestibules, especially in retail settings, consume anywhere from 25 to 250 square feet of usable retail space and carry construction costs ranging from $3,750 to $37,500, based on an average of $150/square feet construction costs.

Meanwhile air curtain proponents will continue to present energy efficiency data to code committees, in hopes of instituting the vestibule alternative measure into the IECC. The next meeting on the subject is scheduled in January 2013.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced that it has acquired KlingStubbins. Officials did not disclose the terms of the agreement. Jacobs' acquisition of KlingStubbins, which has approximately 500 employees located in the United States and Asia, particularly enhances the Company's capabilities in design. KlingStubbins provides professional services in planning, architecture, engineering and interiors.

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Perkins Eastman opens office in San Francisco

Located at 23 Geary Street in the One Kearny building, the 8,100 sf office will accommodate a growing staff of 45.

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Sasaki expands national sports design studio

Sasaki has also added Stephen Sefton to the sports design studio as senior associate.

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Holcim awards winners for North America announced

A socio-architectural project to create regional food-gathering nodes and a logistics network in Canada's high arctic territory won the top prize for North America of $100,000.