Author: Krismely Rodriguez
As the concept of circularity becomes increasingly more important in the built environment, the concepts of deconstruction and reuse have met many roadblocks in the commercial sector. The Project Manager’s Guide to Material Reuse in Commercial Buildings highlights how the commercial building sector can shift long held practices to produce more sustainable, circular, and less wasteful construction projects. In this guide, STOBG sustainability manager Michael Orbank contributes construction best practices that are being piloted on jobsites: highlighting material takeback programs, site separation techniques, and reuse pathways for traditionally landfilled products.
In case you missed it, last month’s Buildings Conference Venture Forum session featured a panel discussion with principals from AEC Angels, an early-stage “investing club,” as Managing Director Grant McCullagh likes to put it.
The wood product represents a “huge untapped potential” to drive down the city’s carbon footprint, said the New York City Economic Development Corp.
In an industry that’s historically been slow to adopt new technologies, the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) fields present incredible opportunities for tech investors and developers alike. Determined to drive innovative change from within, Thornton Tomasetti, SHoP Architects, Syska Hennessy, and STO Building Group formed AEC Angels, a venture capital fund focused specifically on assessing, testing, funding, and accelerating promising AEC technologies.
More and more organizations are beginning to understand the advantages of workplace diversity and are working to create an environment where everyone feels valued and part of the team. A new consideration in this discussion is neurodiversity—creating spaces that account for a range of differences in brain function. Here renowned expert Kay Sargent, senior principal and director of workplace at HOK, explains what it means to design for neurodiversity and the role it plays in an overall effort to foster truly inclusive environments.
Although drones got their start in military operations, they have become engrained in almost every aspect of our culture, from package delivery to wedding photography. Drones are becoming increasingly useful for construction too, especially for large-scale, out of-the-ground projects.
The pandemic changed everything we thought we knew about the role and function of the office. Here workplace designer Kara Eberle-Lott, associate principal at Cushing Terrell, shares what she is seeing from her workplace clients and where office design may be headed next. Abbott Construction recently worked with Eberle-Lott and her team to build Cushing Terrell’s own new workplace in Seattle.
About four years ago, Jon Ferguson, director of visualization at Layton Construction, needed aerial pictures of the University of Utah’s Farmington Campus for pursuit purposes. He couldn’t find quality aerial photos on Google Earth, so he found an alternative. He borrowed a drone, the DJI Phantom 1, from a contractor friend. This new technology allowed Ferguson to get the photos and video he needed, and it impressed the crew working on the project.Back then, drones were new and exciting, and the crew at the Farmington Campus asked Ferguson to come back and take more aerial shots. From there, word spread…
Written By Pat Toner, VP/Life Science Sector Leader, STO Building GroupWith all eyes on the life sciences sector during the thick of the pandemic, it seemed like the sky was the limit on pharmaceutical real estate. But have we reached a saturation point?After an intense focus on life sciences facilities, some regional markets have started to slow while others are still catching up. Boston and San Francisco, for example, will always be leaders in the market, but supply seems to finally be leveling with demand.Seattle—which invested heavily in attracting life sciences companies—has a surplus of space. Dallas, Houston, and San…
With statutory regulation growing alongside investor pressure, several leading construction companies have announced net-zero targets in the past year. Such pledges are the culmination of an industry that is transitioning towards sustainability being the rule, as opposed to the exception, with BREEAM ratings, the reuse of concrete frames, high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, smart management of energy consumption, and low-greenhouse-gas construction processes becoming largely adopted on construction projects throughout London.