Stego embarks on HPD Pilot Program

Stego Industries recently signed on to the Health Product Declaration Open Standard (HPD), a voluntary format for disclosing product content and related health concerns that are typically not reported even when a product or a building is certified “green.”

The company will prepare an HPD for its flagship product, the Stego Wrap vapor barrier, which it will submit to the HPD Working Group. The Working Group will evaluate and synthesize the feedback and revise the draft HPD into a final version to be officially ratified and made available to the public later this year. Nearly 30 of the most important names in the construction industry, representing a wide variety of products, will help refine the HPD Open Standard to provide information to customers that is reliable and actionable, through a process that is reasonable and fair to all manufacturers.

“Stego’s line of vapor barrier products is not just the choice of green builders because of its ability to reduce energy costs by protecting the building envelope from the diffusion of water vapor, contaminants, and soil gases,” says Stego CEO Paul J. Blasdel. “Green builders also choose Stego because of our commitment to sustainable projects like the Health Product Declaration Pilot Program--proving we are not just a vendor to the green building community, but a partner.”

The HPD Open Standard Working Group is a voluntary association of experts from the community of building designers, specifiers, owners and users. The HPD Open Standard Working Group was convened in July 2011 by the Materials Research Collaborative, a joint project of the Healthy Building Network and BuildingGreen, Inc. BD+C

Earlier this month, my colleague and I presented a session to a group of civil engineers and transportation agencies about the tech trends in the AEC space. Along with advice on how to prepare your plan for controlled collaboration, we also talked through some practical use cases. One such use case was especially interesting, as it outlined a challenge not unfamiliar to government agencies who are contemplating the leap from paper to digital processes: how to securely migrate workflows.

For an 1893 academic building in the Collegiate Gothic style at Bryn Mawr (Pa.)

| Apr 16, 2014

Upgrading windows: repair, refurbish, or retrofit [AIA course]

Building Teams must focus on a number of key decisions in order to arrive at the optimal solution: repair the windows in place, remove and refurbish them, or opt for full replacement.

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, Mich. Photo credit: Justin Macono

| Apr 15, 2014

12 award-winning structural steel buildings

Zaha Hadid's Broad Art Museum and One World Trade Center are among the projects honored by the American Institute of Steel Construction for excellence in structural steel design.

| Apr 15, 2014

First look: Zaha Hadid reveals designs for dreamy sculptural hotel - CORRECTED

Hadid's design, which will become the fifth hotel tower in the City of Dreams entertainment hub, features a latticed exoskeleton enveloping the building's exterior. The 40-floor, 150,000-square-foot space is envisioned as a monolith with voids carved throughout.

David Chipperfield Architects has won the Nobel Center architectural competition

| Apr 15, 2014

Chipperfield's sparkling brass-clad scheme selected to be new home of Nobel Prize

The distinctive building, with its shimmering vertical brass elements and glass façade design, beat out two other finalists in the Nobel Center architectural competition.