An increasing number of California architects and contractors are employing building information modeling tools to enhance their use of green technology in new projects and renovations. A 2010 Green BIM SmartMarket report from McGraw-Hill Construction, the publisher of California Construction, showed that 78% of companies that use software to share digital models of buildings’ functions plan to incorporate BIM within the next three years to measure sustainability. The same report indicated 17% of green BIM practitioners believe they realize more than 50% of BIM’s potential to achieve green objectives. “The growth of green projects will drive the growth of BIM
If you’re a tough public utilities commission advocating energy efficiency and water conservation and other sustainable requirements for taxpayers, and you plan on building a new headquarters, the old saying “if you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk” holds a more serious sway. Webcor crews start to go vertical on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission headquarters building in the Civic Center. KMD/Stevens Architects designed the SFPUC building. Related Links: Green Building In San Francisco, its PUC is facing this challenge every day while moving toward a spring 2012 completion of its new, LEED-platinum building.
It wasn’t long ago that green design was a novelty or an experiment done on guinea-pig projects. But that was then and this is now. “Today everybody’s doing it,” says Steven Spaid, with San Francisco-based SmithGroup. “But less than five years ago you really had to sell the client on investing in green because it cost more.” As you can see in the following rankings of the Top Green Designers of 2010, architectural and engineering firms are moving steadily into the sustainability world with impressive number of LEED-accredited professionals being added to their teams, bigger green revenues and higher-profile green
The Stanford University School of Medicine recently held opening ceremonies for its new Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge (LKSC), designed by NBBJ. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Representing the first completed phase of the Stanford University School of Medicine’s master plan, the 120,000-sq-ft building brings together cutting-edge medicine, modern education, and advanced technology, while serving as a new academic and social hub for the Stanford campus. Whiting Turner served as the general contractor on the $90-million project. Set at the crossroads between the Stanford Medical Center and adjacent science quads on a new landscaped pedestrian thoroughfare,
California State University, Fullerton recently completed a $20-million, 1,500-stall parking garage, the third facility on campus and the second by the design-build general contractor, Bomel Construction Co. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" In addition to erecting and assisting project architect International Parking Design with the design of the six-level garage, Anaheim Hills-based Bomel was in charge of re-routing Folino Drive, one of the major streets on campus. The cast-in-place concrete parking facility also features a parking information center, where patrons can get campus directions and purchase parking passes. The center is near a pedestrian plaza with outdoor seating for
The $66-million Temecula Civic Center is more than a big, new facility for the city. The development is also a tribute to the history of the area. “We are an old west town and we want this project to reflect that image, while being an anchor to the rest of the city,” says David McBride, project manager for Temecula. He says it is being constructed to replace Temecula’s small, outdated city hall, which is currently located in an industrial area and is “busting at the seams” with employees. Designed in Mission Revival style by Redding-based Nichols, Melburg & Rossetto (NMR)
The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) announced a $33 million commitment of union pension capital to finance the Arc Light Co. project, a development that will create much needed in-town rental apartments in San Francisco. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The project will convert a five-story historic commercial building in the South Beach neighborhood at 178 Townsend into 94 housing units, 20% of which will be reserved for low-income households. It will include an underground parking facility, more than 4,400 sq ft of retail space and a children’s day care center. With its many green features, Arc Light is
If Kaiser Permanente’s new Anaheim Medical Center looks familiar, it might be because the facility has twin siblings also under construction in California. Cannon Design of Los Angeles adapted the Kaiser Permanente template to fit the needs of the Anaheim community. The Anaheim facility features a healing garden. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The $500-million facility is a Kaiser template hospital. “A template is our methodology for delivering a project faster so we don’t start from scratch every time,” says Joe Stasney, Kaiser project director. “We have a template base that serves as the foundation for the design of
It would have been easy for Dreyfuss & Blackford, project architects for the $110-million California Independent System Operator headquarters in Folsom, to go big and tall. The new Cal ISO headquarters complex is located in Folsom Dreyfuss & Blackford’s Cal ISO comcept employs clean and modern design elements Related Links: UC Merced poised to add fourth major building on campus Created by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Cal ISO is all about power: It runs the state’s electricity transmission grid. What better way to communicate power than a headquarters with big, monolithic facades and imposing vertical heights? But Gus Fischer,
When asked how his company continues to excel while so many other design firms wither during the recession, Phil Petrocelli points to a project that AECOM Technology Corp. recently worked on in the Southern California desert.