In many cases, building envelope design is mostly a matter of aesthetics and costs. As attention to environmental issues grows, however, sustainability and energy-related concerns play an increasing role in these decisions. The push to reduce urban heat island effects is one of the most prominent of these concerns.
Precast concrete is a vital ingredient in keeping facilities and their occupants safe. The following examples of military installations and federal courthouses show how precast concrete protects life.
Gabe Maser, Senior Vice President of Government Relations and National Strategy for the International Code Council, sat down with us to talk about Building Safety Month and the role of building codes in ensuring safe and resilient communities.
The following is an exhibit of over twenty tools (many of which are free) that can help your team examine, disclose, and optimize your next building project for embodied carbon.
Clayton, Missouri’s Forsyth Pointe is a 1-million-square-foot office complex that has changed the city’s skyline, and given building and construction professionals many ideas for future projects. What lessons should people learn from this ultra-upscale development to apply to other modern building enclosures?
Rehabbing buildings with energy conservation in mind can be a massive undertaking, requiring a holistic exterior and interior approach to decrease buildings’ carbon emissions and energy consumption while minimizing disruption to current occupants. A deep energy retrofit is achieved when renovation activities reduce a building’s site energy usage by at least 40 percent.
Understanding the impact of fasteners penetrating through the control layers responsible for keeping the building dry and comfortable is critical to long-term sustainability both in terms of durability and energy performance.
Adaptive reuse—the conversion of underused commercial property to residential housing units—is an important pathway toward revitalizing urban areas experiencing lower commercial occupancy in a post-COVID world where remote work is commonplace.
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