The California High-Speed Rail Authority and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) have reached a funding agreement that will bring $400 million in public funds to the Link Union Station project. Link US, as the project is widely known, aims to retrofit Los... View full entry
US prefab specialist Katerra has added two contractors to its stable of companies: UEB Builders and Fortune-Johnson General Contractors.
The acquisitions allow the Silicon Valley company to expand its coverage of the US market. UEB Builders is a general contractor in Arizona that constructs commercial and residential projects. Georgia-based Fortune-Johnson specialises in multi-family residential projects. Both companies will adopt the Katerra brand.
— BIM+
According to Bim+, the acquisition will add 320 employees to Katerra's payroll, pushing the company's workforce to 8,500 individuals. In January 2019, the end-to-end building services provider also received an infusion of investment from Japan's SoftBank that raised Katerra's valuation to over $... View full entry
We have a very limited number of copies remaining from our first print of the third issue of Ed, Archinect's print periodical. To secure a copy before we run out, orders should be made soon. This latest issue features a diverse range of contributions by significant architectural... View full entry
Under the 25-year deal with developer 8minute Solar Energy, the city would buy electricity from a sprawling complex of solar panels and lithium-ion batteries in the Mojave Desert of eastern Kern County, about two hours north of Los Angeles. The Eland project would meet 6% to 7% of L.A.'s annual electricity needs and would be capable of pumping clean energy into the grid for four hours each night.
The combined solar power and energy storage is priced at 3.3 cents per kilowatt-hour [...]
— Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti praised the approved Eland Solar and Storage Center as an integral part of the city's climate commitment to reach 55% renewable energy by 2025, 80% renewable energy by 2036, and 100% renewable energy by 2045. "Located on 2,650 acres in Kern County, California, the... View full entry
According to the team's Kickstarter page, Scribit is a write-and-erase robot that allows you to draw any content sourced from the web—and update it in real time. See the video below for some words from Italian architect Carlo Ratti, the inventor of the new technology: View full entry
When you have two concrete parallel walls, like we do in our rehearsal spaces and then in the Justice Forum [an intimate theater space], parallel walls are really bad for acoustics. You get a condition called flutter echo, where you have two sound waves bouncing off two parallel hard surfaces. So we had to break that sound up. What we needed to do was create a random texture which would diffuse and break up the sound. That’s where we came up with crinkled concrete. — CityLab
In a recent interview with CityLab, Steven Holl Architects' senior associate Garrick Ambrose discusses a design solution the firm created in order to mediate acoustics within their newly opened Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts expansion, The REACH, in Washington, D.C. Image ©... View full entry
This Friday, the University of Pennsylvania will hold Designing a Green New Deal, a day-long symposium aimed at articulating a design perspective for "a still-abstract set of proposals for decarbonizing the economy, eliminating poverty, creating green, working-class jobs, and retrofitting... View full entry
As many architects know, throughout each phase of a project, finding ways to streamline production and efficiency is vital, as are improving cost efficiency and project delivery times. Several construction companies are combining their use of design platforms like BIM with augmented reality... View full entry
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a growing career path for architects, construction professionals, and those passionate about the inter-workings of infrastructure and building management. Firms around the world are looking for highly experienced and qualified individuals who are seeking to... View full entry
Arthur Szlam and colleagues at Facebook Research have begun work on an AI assistant that can learn from its interactions with humans and then perform a wide range of tasks on request. The more it learns the more it can do. The team has chosen Minecraft, the best-selling 3D sandbox video game, as... View full entry
This post is brought to you by BQE Core. ePayments will allow BQE Core users to speed up cash flow by sending automated invoices that clients can pay instantly via credit or debit cards. BQE Software Inc. and Stripe have partnered to help professional service firms get paid faster via online... View full entry
SB 400, adds bikeshare and e-bikes as mobility options in the Clean Cars 4 All Program, which will provide a strong incentive for Californians to switch from car to bike travel. — Orange County Breeze
Regarding the bill's impact, California state senator Thomas J. Umberg, the author of SB 400, said, "Senate Bill 400 helps California reduce our state’s greenhouse gas emissions. E-bikes are proving to be a reliable mobility option for not only replacing car trips, but also more widespread... View full entry
Let's face it, construction noise isn't the most pleasant sounding thing. However, it's a vital part of the design process when working on a project. But what if the loud beeping of cranes and other bothersome acoustic noise could be turned into rhythmic music? Thanks to Reddit users... View full entry
The technology giant is teaming up with its subsidiary, Sidewalk Labs LLC, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to launch an infrastructure holding company that is being spun out of Sidewalk. Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, as the new firm will be known, will focus on investing in what the group calls technology-enabled infrastructure, the partners said. — The Wall Street Journal
The firm, according to The Wall Street Journal, will target its investments on "advanced mobility, energy, water and waste, digital infrastructure, and social infrastructure" projects that require more than $100 million in equity. View full entry
Death by Modernism has created a collection of "Midcentury Emojis," especially for the design oriented user. "Given Apple's attention to design details in practically every aspect of their products, we've always felt like there was something missing when it came to the furniture emojis in... View full entry
