In a recent presentation at a San Francisco conference on optics and photonics, researchers presented papers describing their successful tests of optical data transmission tools, which soon may replace current data centers’ thousands of miles of fiber-optic cables with overhead layer of infrared laser beams, lenses and mirrors.
The International Code Council has approved—as expected—the updated structural building-design standard, written by the American Society of Civil Engineers Structural Engineering Institute, for inclusion in the 2018 edition of the ICC’s model International Building Code.
Homeowners on Jan. 6 added another lawsuit to the list pending against Millennium Partners, developer of the 645-ft-tall Millennium Tower, located in San Francisco’s South-of-Market district.
As those on the leading edge know, progress in the buildings sector does not come easily. But that doesn't stop innovators from working diligently to increase the sustainability and resilience of buildings and decrease their carbon footprints while trying to find ways to boost construction quality and building-team productivity.
A recent series of dynamic tests demonstrates that there are several types and doses of steel-fiber reinforcement that can be used in performance-based seismic design of coupling beams—headers that link openings in concrete shear walls—to reduce rebar congestion.
A remodeled concert hall in the heart of Berlin will feature a chamber-music performance space designed by Frank Gehry and acoustics by Yasuhisa Toyota.
Moving from the lab to the field, a highway off-ramp bridge under construction in Seattle features memory-retaining metal rods and bendable concrete designed to provide the structure with flexibility sufficient to withstand a major seismic event.