Photo by Luke Abaffy for ENR Bajoria designed a Buddhist meditation center and bookstore in New York City that opened last October. Related Links: Main Feature: IIndustry Women Weigh In on the New Normal Performa-Studio website Sarika Bajoria found a peaceful refuge when she started attending meditation classes at a modern Buddhist center in Manhattan three years ago. Her spiritual immersion coincided with a bold professional move: She started her own architecture practice in the thick of the recession in 2010."It took a huge leap of faith," she says. "I had to put myself out there and market to clients,

Two competing approaches now being developed to measure infrastructure sustainability will merge, their sponsors announced Sept. 16. While the link between indexes advanced by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure and by the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at Harvard University is expected to boost attention to the rating scheme and save money, it may not win credit ratings for projects, said participants at a sustainability conference in Cambridge, Mass.The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating system has emerged as the leading authority on sustainable building design, but efforts to establish a similar approach for infrastructure across disciplines have failed to

Image courtesy Bechtel Corp. Construction of a 120-hectare liquefied-natural-gas processing plant in Soyo, a coastal city, should be finished by the end of this year. Angola is revving up to start exporting liquefied natural gas, with a key phase of a 
$9-billion project nearing completion.Construction of a 120-hectare processing plant in Soyo, a coastal city in the southern African nation, is scheduled to wrap up in the first quarter of 2012, following the completion earlier this year of two offshore pipelines with a combined total distance of 385 kilometers.Bechtel Corp. is serving as the general contractor and construction manager. The

Gabriella L. Turnay, a New York City-based editorial researcher who worked for McGraw-Hill's education division and Engineering News-Record during her 48-year career, died on July 20 following a long illness. She was 82.Turnay joined ENR in 1967 as an editorial research associate; she compiled the ENR Index, a semi-annual listing of topics covered in the magazine, until it was replaced in 1984 with computer databases. Turnay also proofread the magazine, managed payments to freelance writers and supervised reprint permissions. Prior to joining ENR, Turnay worked for 16 years as an editor in McGraw Hill's education division, where she was involved

BRANUMW. Howell "Hal" Branum, president of Professional Service Industries Inc., an Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based engineering and environmental consulting firm, died of a heart attack on July 1 while visiting Denver. He was 69.President since 2000 and, before that, chief operating officer, Branum oversaw the integration of numerous acquisitions as the company grew. Now boasting 125 offices and 2,500 employees, the firm specializes in geotechnical engineering, construction-materials testing and engineering, and industrial hygiene. A 32-year veteran of the firm, he led many of its high-profile projects, including Denver International Airport and the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington,

Richard C. Halpern, a Chicago-based construction manager who oversaw numerous high-profile domestic and international building projects during a 50-year career, died July 3 of complications from cancer treatment in Houston. He was 78. Photo: courtesy of Rebecca Halpern Richard Halpern As an executive at former building firm Morse Diesel, Halpern managed the construction of the Sears Tower, the world’s tallest building when it opened in 1974. He was among three executives cited by ENR in 1974 for their roles in the landmark project, which included the industry’s first major effort to recruit minorities into its workforce.In 1976, Halpern co-founded CM

Teams of budding and seasoned architects faced off last week for the second annual Iron Designer Challenge, where they constructed freestanding “Portals”—structures that mediate two spaces—in less than three hours. Photo Laura Mirviss The Gensler team after winning the 2011 Iron Designer Challenge. Photo Laura Mirviss The Turner team assembles their Portal, which is primarily made out of bamboo. Related Links: Architects, Students Compete in Iron Designer Challenge Student Teams Strive to Build Best Emergency Shelter The Gensler team won the 2010 contest, in which participants built emergency shelters, and once again, it took home the grand prize. Inspired by

Professional and prospective architects and engineers will live life in the fast lane as they compete in the second annual Iron Designer Challenge in New York on Thursday, June 9. Patterned after the cooking show Iron Chef, eight teams consisting of three high school students and four professionals will go head to head as they build life-size and freestanding “Portals”—structures that mediate two spaces—in less than three hours. Photo courtesy School of Design and Construction During last year's competition, teams built emergency shelters that could be assembled within hours of a natural disaster. Related Links: Student Teams Strive To Build