Greenbuild 2012 Report: Multifamily

As we noted in our July Giants 300 Report, multifamily construction, especially apartment buildings, has been the “darling” of the real estate industry in the last couple of years—and sustainably designed projects are contributing to that boom, even in places you might not think of finding them.

In Portland, Maine, the Oak Street Lofts have become the first affordable multifamily housing to earn LEED Platinum certification in the Pine Tree State. Designed by CWS Architects, the 37 artist-friendly efficiency apartments are 40% more energy efficient than the typical multifamily building. Wright-Ryan Construction (GC) diverted more than 60% of construction waste from landfill.

Thornton Tomasetti/Fore Solutions, acting as sustainability/LEED for Homes consultant, used energy modeling to analyze window glazing types, solar thermal water heating, and a heat-recovery ventilation system, along with envelope design to improve thermal breaks at the exterior wall.

In Panama City, Fla., Hardin Construction teamed with Chap Ashmore & Associates and architect Martin Riley Associates on the 92-unit Panama Commons, the first family-oriented affordable housing community in the Southeast to earn Platinum in the LEED for Homes program.

This was the twelfth project Hardin Construction has completed for the Paces Foundation. Hardin also constructed Galleria Manor, an 88-unit seniors-housing complex in Smyrna, Ga., and Whitehall Manor, in Cleveland, Ga., for the nonprofit housing development corporation. Both projects earned LEED Gold.

Green multifamily developments are also sprouting up in more traditional locales. In New York, construction is under way at 211 East 13th Street on an eight-story condominium development designed by BKSK Architects. The 110,000-sf, 83-unit tower, designed to LEED Silver standards, features a stormwater filtration system—considered unusual for an urban project—and both a blue roof (to store rainwater) and a green vegetated roof to relieve the overtaxed sewer system. +

Glass is heat-treated for two reasons: the first is to increase its strength to resist external stresses such as wind and snow loads, or thermal loads caused by the sun’s energy. The second is to temper glass so that it meets safety glazing requirements defined by applicable codes or federal standards.

| Feb 27, 2014

Metal Construction Association introduces two Environmental Product Declarations

Two Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), one for Metal Composite Material Panels and one for Roll Formed Steel Panels for Roofs and Walls, are now available free of charge from the Metal Construction Association (MCA) on its website.

| Feb 27, 2014

Bluebeam Software launches Revu 12 for better field-ready document management and project collaboration

The latest version of the company’s flagship solution better enables users in document-intensive industries to digitally collaborate on project documents and more easily connect the office to the field.

PocketCake's VRSCA (for Virtual Reality Simulation Converter Assembly) is three

| Feb 27, 2014

PocketCake lunches CPU designed for virtual reality simulations

The company's Virtual Reality Simulation Converter Assembly is three times more powerful than the average high-performance computer and allows for up to eight people to experience a virtual reality simulation at the same time.

Photos courtesy Blackney Hayes Architects

| Feb 26, 2014

Adaptive reuse project brings school into historic paper mill

The project features nontraditional classrooms for collaborative learning, an arts and music wing, and a technologically sophisticated global resource center.

| Feb 26, 2014

Use this app to streamline safety inspections

Using the iAuditor app, one of our Skanska teams developed electronic reports that make safety inspections more efficient, and that make it easier to address any issues emerging from them.