GSA to invest $80 million on smart building technologies at federal properties

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) will invest $80 million from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into smart building technologies within 560 federal buildings. GSA intends to enhance operations through granular controls, expand available reporting with more advanced metering sources, and optimize the operator experience.

Products and Materials

Top products from AIA 2024

This month, Building Design+Construction editors are bringing you the top products displayed at the 2024 AIA Conference on Architecture & Design. Nearly 550 building product manufacturers showcased their products—here are 17 that caught our eye.

Mass Timber

Oregon State University builds a first-of-its-kind mass timber research lab

In Corvallis, Oreg., the Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex at Oregon State University aims to achieve a distinction among the world’s experimental research labs: It will be the first all-mass-timber lab meeting rigorous vibration criteria (2000 micro-inches per second, or MIPS).

Lighting

LEDs were nearly half of the installed base of lighting products in the U.S. in 2020

Federal government research shows a huge leap in the penetration of LEDs in the lighting market from 2010 to 2020. In 2010 and 2015, LED installations represented 1% and 8% of overall lighting inventory, respectively.

Aug 11, 2010

Toronto mandates green roofs

The city of Toronto late last month passed a new green roof by-law that consists of a green roof construction standard and a mandatory requirement for green roofs on all classes of new buildings. The by-law requires up to 50% green roof coverage on multi-unit residential dwellings over six stories, schools, nonprofit housing, and commercial and industrial buildings.

Aug 11, 2010

Modest recession for education construction

Construction spending for education expanded modestly but steadily through March, while at the same time growth for other institutional construction had stalled earlier in 2009. Education spending is now at or near the peak for this building cycle. The value of education starts is off 9% year-to-date compared to 2008.

Aug 11, 2010

'Feebate' program to reward green buildings in Portland, Ore.

Officials in Portland, Ore., have proposed a green building incentive program that would be the first of its kind in the U.S. Under the program, new commercial buildings, 20,000 sf or larger, that meet Oregon's state building code would be assessed a fee by the city of up to $3.46/sf. The fee would be waived for buildings that achieve LEED Silver certification from the U.

Aug 11, 2010

News Briefs: New LEED energy and water requirements take effect; ASHRAE publishes energy efficiency guide for hotels; ICC launches green building code initiative for commercial structures

For more: www.BDCnetwork.com.

Aug 11, 2010

News Briefs: Design firms say they need more project management training... Jones named director of GSA's Design Excellence program... Carbon prices running out of gas in Northeast cap and trade market

Design firms say they need more project management training. Nearly one-third (32%) of design and…

Aug 11, 2010

News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement

Aug 11, 2010

Decline expected as healthcare slows, but hospital work will remain steady

The once steady 10% growth rate in healthcare construction spending has slowed, but hasn't entirely stopped. Spending is currently 1.7% higher than the same time last year when construction materials costs were 8% higher. The 2.5% monthly jobsite spending decline since last fall is consistent with the decline in materials costs.

Aug 11, 2010

Luxury Hotel required faceted design

Goettsch Partners, Chicago, designed a new five-star, 214-room hotel for the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The design-build project, with Saudi Oger Ltd. as contractor and Rayadah Investment Co. as developer, has a three-story podium supporting a 17-story glass tower with a nine-story opening that allows light to penetrate the mass of the building.

Aug 11, 2010

Robotic storage facility protects exotic automobiles, fine wines, artwork

Miller Construction Company, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has completed construction on a high-tech robotic storage facility designed to store and protect valued possessions such as exotic automobiles, fine wines, artwork, and jewelry. Designed and built to resist Category 5 hurricanes, the RoboVault facility features automated storage retrieval, biometric recognition, private access with 24/7 securi...

Aug 11, 2010

U.S. firm designing massive Taiwan project

MulvannyG2 Architecture is designing one of Taipei, Taiwan's largest urban redevelopment projects. The Bellevue, Wash., firm is working with developer The Global Team Group to create Aquapearl, a mixed-use complex that's part of the Taipei government's "Good Looking Taipei 2010" initiative to spur redevelopment of the city's Songjian District.