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California’s Building Standards Commission has voted to ease barriers to the safe conversion of underused existing commercial buildings. The move has been described by AIA California as “an action that simultaneously addresses the climate emergency and California’s housing crisis.” The... View full entry
Famous historic sites, low-income apartments and Twitter's headquarters all appear on a previously unpublished draft list of 3,407 concrete buildings in San Francisco that may be at high risk of collapse in a major earthquake, according to a copy of a city government document obtained by NBC News through a public records request. — NBC News
The city says the list is still a “preliminary draft inventory” of at-risk concrete structures, some of which were built after 2000, according to NBC. Who will actually pay for the mass retrofits still hasn’t been hammered out yet, leaving many to speculate as to its near-term feasibility... View full entry
New York City has pledged to reach 1,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2030 — enough energy to power 250,000 homes, according to the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Justice. But state data shows that its current pace of installation will land short of that goal, leaving officials and advocates looking for ways to break down barriers to installation. — Gothamist
As Gothamist reported, 90% of the city’s energy grid is derived from fossil fuels. The effort to counteract this with rooftop photovoltaics is being stymied by the building codes and cost of installation, despite remarkable gains in solar capacity overall. A proposed new program called... View full entry
The International Code Council is to revise its building code development process with changes taking effect in 2024. The new process for reviewing code change proposals will see a three-year rolling cycle encompassing Committee Action Hearings and a joint Public Comment Hearings / Online... View full entry
Arrest warrants have been issued in Turkey in response to the devastating earthquake that killed more than 34,000 people across the shared border with Syria last Monday. The BBC writes that a total of 113 warrants were issued to individuals within the country, reportedly including architects... View full entry
For much of its recent history in mitigating climate change, Denver has concentrated on buildings’ operational energy — the energy needed to run basics like heating, air conditioning, lighting and hot water. That will shift in May, when Denver’s newly adopted green code takes effect, said Christy Collins, green communities specialist with the local government. — Smart Cities Dive
Denver’s new green code will make it so a building’s embodied carbon is considered. It will provide minimum requirements for the siting, design, construction, and plans for the operation of projects. Commercial projects in Denver are now required by law to choose around 10% of the green code... View full entry
[The] Los Angeles City Council put an end to the expansion of local natural gas infrastructure on December 7th when they unanimously approved an ordinance requiring that all new buildings within city limits be constructed all-electric. With this vote, Los Angeles became the largest city in the state and the second largest city in the country to mandate a definitive shift away from fossil fuels in new construction. — NRDC.org
LA City Hall had previously adopted a similar ordinance for all its municipal buildings in 2020 and passed a ban on gas appliances along with a mandate for emissions-free new constructions at the end of spring. The new building code changes are set to go into effect with the new year. A test run... View full entry
Work has been completed on the 80 M office building in Washington DC. The project, which saw a three-story timber extension added atop an existing seven-story concrete building, is described by the design team as “the first commercial office building in Washington DC to feature a vertical... View full entry
Following last week’s look at an opening for a Senior Architect at CHECKSET, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore roles for a Structural Steel Specialist at the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). The successful candidate will support the AISC... View full entry
Once the storm passed, the sight of Punta Gorda may have surprised some people. While it had typical post-hurricane storm debris, downed trees and several flooded streets, a number of homes and buildings appeared largely intact and many showed only minimal damage to their exteriors.
How is it possible that the coastal city wasn’t more devastated by a storm that ranks among the most powerful to ever strike the United States? One major factor, according to some experts, are modern building code
— The Washington Post
While other southwest Florida communities like Fort Myers were devastated, Punta Gorda, a town of about 20,000, was saved thanks to strident code changes enacted in the wake of 1992’s Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Charley twelve years later. “It’s a demonstration that updated building codes... View full entry
Following last week’s look at an open opportunity for a Director of Design Entrepreneurship and Inclusion at Kent State University, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore a role for a Senior Architect at CHECKSET. The successful candidate will work with... View full entry
California building codes were updated in July to allow for the construction of mass timber buildings up to 18 stories tall. [...]
"There's been extensive testing for this application and taking mass timber into taller wood buildings [...] The building codes are very conservative in the U.S. Even though Europe has been using mass timber for many years it's still relatively new in the U.S."
— CBS Sacramento
The new California building codes come as mass timber applications in buildings gain momentum across North America. Most notable is the recently-opened Ascent Tower by Korb + Associates Architects in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which was crowned the world’s tallest timber-concrete hybrid... View full entry
Australia’s first office tower with a “solar skin” is expected to be built next year in a landmark moment for the construction industry and decarbonisation efforts. The eight-storey building at 550-558 Spencer Street in West Melbourne will cost $40m and has been designed by the architecture firm Kennon on behalf of Dr Bella Freeman. — The Guardian
The first-of-its-kind structure for Australia will be covered by 1,182 solar panels with the equivalent thickness of a conventional glass façade. The cladding is called Skala, developed by German solar energy technology company Avancis. The system utilizes a thin-film PV module that sits atop a... View full entry
In the wake of the deadly Champlain Towers collapse in Surfside, Florida in June, several groups are calling for improvements to building safety standards. The groups include a statewide association of contractors calling for steps to improve building structural safety, and a task force from... View full entry
California is set to mandate the inclusion of solar panels and battery storage for new buildings. Following a unanimous vote of approval by the California Energy Commission, the measure is expected to be included in an overall revision of the state’s building code in December of this year... View full entry
