Article toolbar In Atlanta green building circles these days, Ryan Gravel is a bit of a “rock star,” according to one co-worker at Perkins+Will. But he's not a “starchitect,” whose big reputation comes from signature buildings. Instead, he's an urban designer, and the mastermind behind the multibillion-dollar BeltLine project, the 22-mile collection of light rail, public mixed-use trails and parks that is now progressing in Atlanta. Image Courtesy Of Perkins+Will New HQ Perkins+Will designed its new LEED Platinum-rated Atlanta offices in 2010. The building features a radiant heating and cooling system. Related Links: Southeast Top Design Firms Main Rankings Southeast
Article toolbar The builders of a super-green expansion and renovation of Clemson University's school of architecture, a project featuring geothermal wells, operable windows and daylighting, are finding that connecting with the environment is easier said than done, especially when Mother Nature intervenes. Photo by Dmitri Jajich for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Unusual Structure The new Rudolph E. Lee Hall building features an open interior, with skylights above each structural column. The building�s structure is supported by slender column �trees� that are 10 3/4 in. in diameter and made of steel plate that is 1 in. thick. At left, the second-floor
Article toolbar The ongoing Southeast retrenchment for architectural and engineering services continued unabated in 2010, as evidenced by a further decline in the collective revenue represented by ENR Southeast's most recent Top Design Firms ranking. This year's ranking includes slightly more than $2.65 billion in collective 2010 revenue from projects located in the four-state region of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, down from last year's total of approximately $2.9 billion. Image courtesy SchenkelShultz Architecture Down On Education? Funding for school projects, such as the $78-million Venice High School in Florida, may prove scarce for 2011. Related Links: Southeast Top Design
April 27, 2011 Photo (bottom) courtesy of LA. Dept. of transportation and development; Photo (top) courtesy of nucor Nucor Corp., Charlotte, N.C., broke ground on March 7 on a $750-million facility in St. James Parish, La. Nucors chairman and CEO, Dan DiMicco (second from right), spoke at the event, along with Gov. Bobby Jindal (at podium) and Stephen Moret (second from left), economic development secretary for Louisiana. The facility will produce direct reduced iron, which is used by Nucors steel mills, along with recycled scrap, to produce steel products such as sheet and special bar quality steel. Nucor says it
STONE LEE Tommy Lee, safety director and a 30-year veteran of W.S. Bellows, Houston, has been named 2010 Safety Director of the Year for the second consecutive year by the Houston Chapter of the American Subcontractors Association. Dennis K. Henning has been named a senior engineering manager in the Dallas office of Parsons Brinckerhoff, a global infrastructure, strategic consulting, engineering and program management firm. He will be responsible for developing and managing transit and rail projects throughout PB's south central region. Henning has more than 35 years of civil and environmental engineering and project and program management experience. Joel Stone
Article toolbar Austin's $508-million Water Treatment Plant No. 4 required engineers and contractors to creatively address a host of environmental concerns to ensure that the city could provide enough water for its growing population through the century. Photo Courtesy of MWH Constructors Pump station A pump station is being built between the lake and the new water treatment plant. “It's a backbone project for us, not just in terms of the next few years but for decades to come,” says Greg Meszaros, director of the Austin Water Utility. Participants not only have to build the plant on a hilltop, but
Article toolbar The sudden abundance of natural gas in the U.S. has owners of two new, but practically unused, liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals in Louisiana and Texas proposing expensive conversions to export the fuel—an unthinkable proposition just five years ago. Photo Courtesy Of Freeport Lng Development LP LNG transport Transfer arms will move liquefied natural gas from vessels docked at the Freeport LNG terminal. Freeport LNG and Cheniere Energy Inc., both of Houston, have announced separate plans to convert their existing LNG import terminals into export-import terminals, plans that would cost each company about $2 billion. The firms
By June 1, when the 2011 hurricane season starts, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its industry and municipal partners will have delivered the bulk of a $14.6-billion program to provide New Orleans and surrounding parishes with what they say will be the best flood protection ever.
Article toolbar A$400-million wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) project now under way at the Fayette Power Project near La Grange, Texas, will remove about 97% of sulfur dioxide emissions from the plant's two units and allow the 1,200-MW facility to meet permitting obligations. Photos courtesy of LCRA Above: Moving Into Place Contractors move a duct section made of carbon steel into position for final placement. Separate sections of this type of ductwork tie into existing chimneys. Top: Power to the people Lower Colorado River Authority and Austin Power Energy are spending $400 million to add scrubbers at the Fayette Power
Article toolbar While public projects dominate Texas and Louisiana's more than $10 billion in Top Starts for 2010, a smattering of private jobs also were able to secure enough backing to move forward. Rendering courtesy of Parkland New Parkland hospital The 862-bed facility in Dallas will replace the existing hospital and is set to be the largest public hospital in the U.S. constructed in a single phase. Projects associated with transportation, health care and the rebuilding of New Orleans infused billions into the region's construction market. Owners have embraced innovative approaches in financing, construction techniques and design to deliver needed
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