Newsworthy

PHOTO: SHEPLEY BULFINCH RICHARDSON & ABBOTT

Evolution of MCM Panels

According to Glenview, IL-based The Metal Initiative, recent improvements in product technology, manufacturing, and installation techniques have made metal composite panels more competitive in cost. In a recent article, Toy Henson, educational director at The Metal Initiative, explains the evolution and application of metal composite materials. Originally called “aluminum composite materials” (ACM), metal composite materials (MCM) were introduced in North America nearly 30 years ago. Although aluminum remains the predominant skin material, the name was changed to reflect new skin metals such as zinc, copper, stainless steel, and titanium.

A “sandwich” effect is used to create MCM panels. Two metal skins are bonded to a highly engineered plastic core at precise temperatures, pressures, and tensions. The result is a metal/plastic composite sheet of similar thickness to solid sheet metal. MCM panels are found in applications ranging from major wall panel systems to cornices and canopies.

DOE, NREL Study Examines Low-Energy Buildings

A recent study concludes that low-energy, high-performance commercial buildings can do more to achieve the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) goal of marketable zero-energy buildings by 2025. Commissioned by the DOE’s Building Technologies Program in Washington, D.C., the Golden, CO-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conducted a study of six low-energy commercial structures that are using combinations of energy technologies such as daylighting, radiant heating, natural ventilation, photovoltaic systems, evaporative cooling, and passive solar strategies.

The report, Lessons Learned from Case Studies of Six High-Performance Buildings, outlines these key lessons:

• Owners provide the main motivation for designing and constructing low-energy buildings.
• Setting measurable energy-saving goals at the outset of the project is crucial to realizing low-energy buildings.
• Many decisions regarding the inclusion of building features are not motivated by cost.
• Today’s energy-saving technologies can substantially change how buildings perform when they are applied together and properly integrated in the design, installation, and operation of the building.
• An integrated whole-building design approach is needed to achieve energy goals.
• Buildings do not always operate as they were designed.
• Energy performance must be tracked and verified following completion of construction.

The U.S. Surgeon General recently released a report concluding that elimination of smoking indoors is the only way to protect occupants from secondhand smoke. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke finds that even the most sophisticated ventilation systems cannot completely eliminate secondhand-smoke exposure. According to the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as of June 1, 2006, 14 states have laws making private workplaces smoke-free. Many employers and businesses have also implemented voluntary policies. In 2001-2002, about 30 percent of indoor workers in the United States were not covered by such policies, down from 54 percent in 1992-1993.

NAIOP Names 2006 Developer of the Year

The National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) recently announced Bentall Capital as the winner of its Developer of the Year award for North America. Based in Herndon, VA, NAIOP is a trade association for developers, owners, investors, and other professionals in industrial, office, and mixed-use commercial real estate. The Developer of the Year award is presented annually to one member-developer company that best exemplifies leadership and innovation in the commercial real estate industry. Vancouver, BC-based Bentall Capital provides a range of development, asset management, property management, and leasing services with a fiduciary responsibility for more than $12 billion in assets in more than 600 properties.

Congress Has TRIA Concerns

Seven members of Congress recently sent a letter to the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG) regarding the availability and affordability of terrorism risk insurance. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act (TRIEA) of 2005 requires terrorism risk insurance, but Congress has five specific concerns they would like PWG to examine in its upcoming report (due Sept. 30, 2006):

1. Lack of a viable reinsurance market.
2. Difficulty in calculating risk.
3. Impediments to a free market response.
4. Increasing take-up rates and decreasing government exposure.
5. Nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological risk.
   

NYSERDA Awards Morgan Stanley

With the help of the Albany, NY-based New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Morgan Stanley corporate office building in Purchase, NY, has the New York Metropolitan area’s largest ice storage-based air-conditioning system. State and county officials have recently recognized the facility for its dramatic energy reduction; it is expected to reduce the facility’s peak energy use by 740 kW and overall electric usage by 900,000 kWh. The ice-storage system makes ice overnight to provide cooling the next day during on-peak hours. NYSERDA, which presented $300,000 to Morgan Stanley, provides technical and financial assistance to businesses that reduce energy costs and improve the reliability of the state’s electrical grid.

One of the largest theatrical arts building projects in the country, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, opened on June 25, 2006. International architect Jean Nouvel of Ateliers Jean Nouvel designed the $125-million, 285,000-square-foot resident theater. The complex is designed to embrace its riverfront site with a circular-form thrust theater to echo the adjacent grain silos and metal sheeting that evokes the industrial buildings of Minneapolis’ past. Providing views of the historic river valley, a cantilevered bridge extends toward the Mississippi.

PHOTO: ROLAND HALBE

Mold is a Threat in All Climates

GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) of Atlanta is now using a relative hazard ranking model developed by Middleton, WI-based American Risk Management Resources Network LLC (ARMR) to rank states at risk for mold contamination on commercial and residential property. ARMR developed the relative hazard ranking model by comparing mold losses on insurance claims with premiums paid on property and liability coverage in each of the 50 states. It does not yet reflect claims from the 2005 hurricane season.

Seismic Design Task Group Formed

The Mount Vernon, IA-based Tilt-Up Concrete Association has formed a seismic design task group in response to concerns about the performance of tilt-up structures during earthquakes. The task group has begun to develop models for current design practice, as well as solutions for dynamic modeling through the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) and proposed detailing through the American Concrete Institute (ACI). The task group will concentrate on seismic loads applied to panels, details for connections, and more.

Schaumburg, IL-based Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute (CRSI) recently announced the winners of its 18th biennial Design Awards Competition. One Grand Award winner was chosen. CRSI presented nine additional awards for achievement and capabilities in the design and/or construction of cast-in-place reinforced concrete in three categories: Special Award, Design Award, and Merit Award. Building entries were judged on how they: 1) satisfied owner objectives, 2) planned effectively, 3) innovated to meet project goals, and 4) fully exploited the benefits of cast-in-place concrete.

Grand Award: Holy Rosary Catholic Church Complex, St. Amant, LA.

Special Award - Security Design: Oklahoma City Federal Building, Oklahoma City; Patriots Plaza - Phase I, Washington D.C.; and Oklahoma Hall, Bachelor Enlisted Quarters P-593, Pearl Harbor, HI.

Design Award: RadioShack Riverfront Campus, Ft. Worth, TX; Press Box at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, Stockton, CA; and Austin City Hall, Austin, TX.

Merit Award: Tacoma Community College, Tacoma, WA; Natural Sciences Building, University of California at San Diego, San Diego; and Oxford Parking Garage, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.