Chicago’s iconic Wolf Point site, which has eluded development for several decades, is now the proud home of one of the largest technology companies in the world, Salesforce, Inc. The 60-story, 850-foot-tall, glass and steel office tower is the crown jewel of the three-structure development that delivers office and residential living to this vibrant area of downtown Chicago.
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The Iconic and Symbolic County Office Building
Decarbonization must rapidly advance to avert further changes to our environment. As a signatory of SE 2050, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has committed to bringing meaningful carbon reductions to a wide spectrum of buildings. The use of mass timber in many buildings can be cost-effective when combined with the building’s architectural design and programmatic needs. The added benefits of carbon sequestration, reduced finishes, and biophilic aesthetics were all developed for the new County Office Building 3 (COB3) for the County of San Mateo in Northern California.
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Mass timber construction has gained momentum throughout North America over the past ten years. For example, Apex Plaza is an approximately 300,000 square foot, mixed-use office/retail/ residential high-rise building in Charlottesville, Virginia, with six stories of mass timber framing over a four-story concrete podium parking structure. At the time of its completion in April 2022, Apex Plaza became the largest mass timber-framed building on the east coast.
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The key is not too much of a good thing.
Designing structures that resist failure due to seismic activity safeguards occupants from injury and reduces the need to rebuild after an earthquake, which can decrease the total embodied carbon a site represents. As such, seismically resilient structures contribute to sustainable construction practices by reducing the environmental strain caused by material production, transportation, and construction.
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19th Century Mississippi River Bridges Series
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad started very small in 1849 with lines around Chicago and points to the southwest. By 1864, it had extended its lines southwesterly to the east bank of the Mississippi River, opposite Burlington, Iowa. A car ferry carried the train across the river where it connected with the Burlington and Missouri Railroad that had been incorporated in 1852 and expanded westerly, reaching the Missouri River by January 1, 1870.
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Kō‘ula is in the center of Ward Village, a 60-acre master-planned community in Honolulu’s urban core that was named “Master Planned Community of the Year” by The National Association of Home Builders and “Best-Planned Community in the United States” by Architectural Digest. Planned as a beautiful addition adjacent to the community’s central park, Kō‘ula is a 41-story mixed-use development featuring 942,000 square feet of built area, including a 566-unit residential tower, common and amenity spaces, 58,300 square feet of retail space, mechanical and support space, and six stories of above-grade parking.
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The 2024 International Code Council model building codes will reference two additional American Concrete Institute (ACI) concrete design and construction standards. ACI CODE 440.11-22 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete Reinforced with Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) Bars (440.11) will be referenced by the International Building Code (IBC) and ACI CODE 562-21 Assessment, Repair, and Rehabilitation of Existing Concrete Structures (562) will be referenced by the International Existing Building Code (IEBC). Although adoption by authorities having jurisdiction (AHJ) will dictate when provisions become explicitly adopted in a particular area, these standards represent current state of the practice and can be used in the interim through an appropriate alternative means and methods process.
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The Seton City Medical Center is located south of San Francisco in Daly City. The hospital, originally named Mary’s Help Hospital, was built in 1965 for the Daughters of Charity to support an underserved community in northern San Mateo County. The hospital remains dedicated to serving this community today but has fallen behind in meeting the California state-mandated seismic life safety performance requirements. As a result, the facility is under a tight 2023 deadline to meet the baseline seismic performance milestone set by the state to ensure their building can safely remain open for patients.
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Gruening Middle School, located in Eagle River, Alaska, was significantly damaged during a magnitude 7.1 earthquake on November 30, 2018. The epicenter of the earthquake was only 11 miles from the school. Due to the damage, Gruening was shut down for almost three years for earthquake repair, seismic upgrades, and programming upgrades. The Gruening Middle School Earthquake Recovery Project was an important effort by the Anchorage School District (ASD) to repair and upgrade the almost 40-year-old school (Figure 1). The project was a success thanks to committed team members and the first use of Simpson Strong-Tie (Simpson) Fabric-Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM) in Alaska.
… Mar, 2023
Ellen Hamel P.E., S.E
Feature
As a result of the pandemic, global supply chain issues and inflation rates have led to significant delays in design, architecture, and construction. Yet, now more than ever, architects are being called on to deliver more complex buildings with shorter delivery schedules while remaining on time and within budget.
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