When the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco relocates next spring to a new $220-million waterside home, visitors no doubt will marvel first at the spectacular views of San Francisco Bay from the building's perch on Piers 15 and 17. Related Links: Engineering News Record Architectural Record But even at second glance, museumgoers probably won't spot another important aspect of the new facility: a network of heating, cooling, water-use and other systems that the building team hopes will achieve its goal of net-zero energy use—a lofty target for a major museum.Visitors surely won't see a third key component of the

A video posted on YouTube captures the moment when a roadheader, an enormous tracked tunneling machine, breaks through a wall of rock and earth and workers step through to greet their fellow miners on the other side. Titled "NIT's Road Header Rendezvous," the clip shows one grinning crew member shouting congratulations over the drilling noise as he reaches out to shake hands with a teammate. Related Links: Race Against Time: Water System Upgrade Moves Into High Gear (ENR 9/22/10) Hetch Hetchy System Launches Upgrade (ENR 7/17/06) The clip shows the moment on June 12 when the two mining crews working

Edison Mission Group's $500-million Walnut Creek Energy Park in the City of Industry is designed for those days when electricity consumption peaks or renewable-power sources refuse to play ball. "Historically, peaking powerplants like Walnut Creek operate only when energy demand is highest," says Larry Kostrzewa, managing director, commercial management for Santa Ana-based Edison Mission Group, a unit of Edison International. "Say it's a hot summer daythe Santa Anas are blowing and everybody has their AC on. That's when these plants will get going." The power provided to Southern California by the natural-gas-fired plant also will come in handy when energy

“It’s certainly a unique delivery method – a Public-Private Partnership utilizing Performance-Based Infrastructure design/build,” says Chip Hastie, vice president at Clark Construction Group-California, Costa Mesa. “That really has shaped many of the design decisions and, ultimately, the end product, which is a facility that can be operated with optimal efficiency and reliability.” The facility is the 545,000-sq-ft Gov. George Deukmejian Courthouse in Long Beach, a $490-million project that will replace the city’s existing – and long outdated – main court building. Construction began in earnest in June.When completed in August 2013, the complex will cover two city blocks and feature

All on the job agree: The most challenging and striking design feature of the $185-million central library replacement under construction in San Diego is its steel lattice dome. The shape, which will top the eighth-floor reading room of the nine-story library, is designed to be a symbol for the city as well as a working part of the building's shading system, says Rob Wellington Quigley, the local design architect for the project. A modern interpretation of the classic shape, the dome is designed to function on both an emotional and practical level, says Quigley. “The dome is not glass, but

“Solar energy and health-care projects are the hot markets right now, and we happen to be playing in those markets,” says Larry Hollis, vice president of business development for Rosendin Electric Inc.

Curt Weltz, Flatiron Construction Corp. western region president, sees his company's growing success in California as a top-down process.

While the recent shutdown of an 11-mile stretch of the Interstate 405 in Los Angeles proved to be more “Carma-good” than “Carmageddon,” Southern California transportation officials are quick to point out the operation didn’t go smoothly by accident.

For STUDIOS Architecture Principal Darryl Roberson, the $300-million California Memorial Stadium project at UC Berkeley isn�t just another �to do� item on his Blackberry. It�s a chance to preserve an important chapter of his youth. The $300-million California Memorial Stadium project at UC Berkeley will transform the 85-year-old facility into a modern, 236,460-sq-ft stadium and 142,200-sq-ft student athlete high-performance center. Image courtesy of Forell/Elsesser Engineers, Inc. The massive renovation and seismic retrofit will transform the 85-year-old facility into a modern, 236,460-sq-ft stadium and 142,200-sq-ft student athlete high-performance center. Roberson, whose firm is associate architect on the project working with project

For the design and construction team of the $700-million Kaiser Fontana replacement hospital project, a major occupational hazard faced daily is a severe sense of d�j� vu. That�s because the 314-bed hospital and accompanying facilities are being built by the exact same team � general contractor McCarthy Building Cos. of Newport Beach and construction administrator HMC Architects of Ontario � that built Kaiser Permanente�s Downey Medical Center in 2009. Those firms were so successful with the earlier project, saving their client $46 million in construction costs and finishing three months ahead of schedule, that Kaiser chose to use them again