Efficient Hiring Trump and the Labor Shortage architectmagazine.

com
Studio 804 Renovating the Portland Building The Journal of the American
Hawthorne on Education Institute of Architects

The Studio Prize

SoundScapes® Shapes beautifully combine great acoustics
with contemporary aesthetics. The panels absorb sound
from all sides for more effective noise control. Select
from 10 standard shapes and 14 standard colors,
or create your own custom design. Visit
armstrongceilings.com/shapes to learn
more about the quiet good looks
of SoundScapes® Shapes.

SOUNDSCAPES ® SHAPES TRAPEZOID PANELS IN WHITE

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS – STUDENT UNION, DENTON, TX
PERKINS + WILL
 SM20LDL S20LDL/S20LDI

P20LDL B20LDL

UC20LDL P/B 20LWW

MZC20L MEC20L

20 Linear Design Guide

Design Guide - Cove Application
SM20L

The SM20L is the product at the

heart of the 20 range. It is a true
architectural lighting tool and can
be used in almost any application
you can think of.

It is a powerful yet refined light

source in a compact form factor,
delivering smooth light free from
striations (undesirable bands or
stripes of light within the beam),
via a spot free homogenous

Mounting and Recommended Spacing Alternative Mounting Options

Wall Accent

MEC20L architect: Gensler; photographer: ©Gensler / Ryan Gobuty Paint out all internal
surfaces of cove in
matt white.
min offset
4”
To avoid hard
cutt off on ceiling,
min 1” ensure front edge
of upstand does not
rise above lens.

2.5”

Whitegoods 20 Linear features a 0.7” lens with spot free even illumination, Floor Accent

available as standard to any length. A range of unique mounting profiles allows

The SM20L is very versatile and can be
mounted in any orientation, horizontally
or vertically. Multiple mounting options
allow for all types of surface.

Whatever the surface you are intending

seamless integration into walls, ceilings and furniture. High efficiency, sustainable to illuminate, there is a way it can be
achieved with 20.

LED engines in high CRI and a range of color temperatures to suit any space.
Request Design Guides:
inter-lux.com/request

tools for lighting answers@inter-lux.com

Engineered—
to work together

Only one company can provide

fully integrated building envelopes.
If a building envelope is supposed to end up as curtain wall
one unified system—why cobble it together
with disparate parts? Our curtain wall, windows
storefronts
storefronts, skylights and glass are designed,
engineered, tested and manufactured by the sam
company. Why? It makes buildings better. It windows

saves you time. It reduces your risk. It just make

sense. So why doesn’t every manufacturer do it? skylights
They can’t. There’s only one Building Envelope
Company.™ Call 1-866-Oldcastle (653-2278)
glass
or visit us online at obe.com.
THE

IS NOW

Architects play a unique role in shaping our world: Electric lighting in buildings consumes 17 percent
Each design decision influences how people of all electricity generated in the United States,
perceive where they live, work and play. But steel, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. 1

stone, brick and wood aren’t the only materials in Research into worker comfort and productivity shows
an architect’s toolkit. Intangibles, such as light, air glare reduction and automated systems that optimize
and temperature, also affect the way people feel in shade and natural light can contribute to improved
a space. worker productivity and reduced energy costs.2

Shaping light through the use of shading devices

should be central to the design process because Two architects recognized for innovative building
without shade, life can quickly become unbearable. shade designs in the Sunbrella Future of Shade
®

Think of the worker whose office suffers from competition conceived of fabric shade systems as
overheating and glare. Or the retailer whose a way to upgrade building performance, improve
customers don’t linger because the pedestrian- occupant comfort and give buildings a distinctive
oriented shopping district is too hot. Or the presence in a city’s skyline.
restauranteur who can’t fill her patio seating because
it’s totally exposed to the sun. Puerto Rico-based architect and industrial designer
Doel Fresse saw a need for automated shade in
Shade can boost commerce and improve worker
productivity, not to mention it can protect people located in the Caribbean. His conceptual design,
from health risks related to UV exposure. Shade “Helicon,” is inspired by the shape of heliconia
design should be a priority whether the project flowers ubiquitous to the island nation. Helicon’s
is a streetscape, shopping area or high-rise fabric panels create an intriguing geometric pattern
office building. on the building’s exterior. The panels can be
adjusted to create interior shade, reduce glare or
allow more light into the building when desired.
Building energy efficiency and worker productivity
can be tied directly to effective shading systems Helicon, which is designed as a retrofit shade
in office structures. People need natural light for
emotional and physical health, but researchers are improves the building’s overall energy performance
finding that control of these daylighting features is by blocking light before it enters the building.
a key element in the performance of buildings and The system can also be flattened to the building’s
the people who work in them. exterior to prevent damage during hurricanes or
tropical storms.

ADVER TISEME
 Responsive Shading System by
Arman Hadilou – United States

For architect Arman Hadilou, the intense summer heat

in Austin, Texas, spurred him to conceptualize the

strips of fabric mounted on adjustable arms on the

building’s exterior. The system responds to the elements,
twisting the strips to create bigger or smaller openings
depending on the angle of the sun and the time of year.
In this way, Responsive Shading System balances building
energy efficiency with the need to maintain views.

The air gap between the building’

eated by
natural convection.

Given rising global temperatures, creating energy-

efficient buildings is more important than ever before.
With shade at the center of the design process, architects
can ensure energy efficiency is a priority, while also
creating aesthetically pleasing buildings that promote
occupant comfort.
Sunbrella is a registered trademark of Glen Raven, Inc.

Find inspiration for your next shade design at

FUTUREOFSHADE.COM
®

1
“Trends in Lighting in Commercial Buildings.” EIA, U.S. Energy Information Administration -
EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis, 17 May 2017.
2
L Roche, “Summertime Performance of an Automated Lighting and Blinds Control System,”
Lighting Research & Technology, vol. 34, Issue No. 1 (2002) 11-25. Ossama A. Abdou,
“Effects of Luminous Environment on Worker Productivity in Building Spaces,”
Helicon by Doel Fresse – Germany Journal of Architectural Engineering, vol. 3, Issue No. 3 (1997).
6 ARCHITECT, The Journal of the American Institute of Architects, September 2017

Contents
Volume 106, number 9. September 2017.
On the cover: Over-Under Bridge by Kyuhun Kim and Meari Kim,
Real Fictions Cairo, University of Pennsylvania.

20 Design Across Borders

22 Buildings for Body and Soul
24 Cultural Ramparts at Edinburgh Castle
26 A Chicago Comic
28 Portman Pictures
30 The Latin American Metropolis

Tech + Practice
34 Best Practices: The Hidden Costs of Hiring
38 Detail: Toranoko Nursery LVL Roof
44 Next Progressives: Paul Preissner Architects
50 Products: How to Specify a Direct/Indirect
Luminaire 122 The Studio Prize
124 Mining Appalachia, University of Virginia
AIA Architect 130 Vagabond, Nomadic House, Université Laval
77 The Architectural Imperative 136 Real Fictions Cairo, University of Pennsylvania
79 We the Public 144 Natural Tendencies, Woodbury University
80 A Tale of Two Cities 150 Urbanism After Extraction, Massachusetts Institute
86 World Company Inc. of Technology
158 Toronto Ravine Re-Create, University of Toronto
Columns
91 The Future of Architecture Education
by Christopher Hawthorne
103 The Effects of Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
by Reed Karaim
115 The Revival of the Portland Building
by Brian Libby

Residential
169 Eero Saarinen’s Penn Dorms Reopen
170 Embellished Screen-Printed Wallpapers
172 Early Smithson House Hits the Market

Editorial
192 A Fitting Memorial in Charlottesville Residential
by Ned Cramer 177 Studio 804

Volume 106, number 9. September 2017. architect® (ISSN 1935-7001; USPS 009-880) is published monthly by Hanley Wood, One Thomas Circle, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20005. Copyright 2017 by Hanley Wood. Opinions expressed
are those of the authors or persons quoted and not necessarily those of the American Institute of Architects. Reproduction in whole or in part prohibited without written authorization. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Periodicals
postage paid at Washington, DC, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to architect P.O. Box 3494, Northbrook, IL 60065. Canada Post Registration #40612608/G.S.T. number R-120931738. Canadian return
address: IMEX, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. For subscription inquiries, address changes, and single-copy sales ($10 in the U.S., $15 in Canada, $20 for other countries, payable in advance in U.S. dollars) write to architect,
P.O. Box 3494, Northbrook, IL 60065 or call 847.291.5221 or toll-free 888.269.8410. REPRINTS: Call or email Wright’s Media: 877.652.5295 or hanleywood@wrightsmedia.com. DISCLOSURE: architect® will occasionally write about
companies in which its parent organization, Hanley Wood, has an investment interest. When it does, the magazine will fully disclose that relationship. PRIVACY OF MAILING LIST: Sometimes we share our subscriber mailing list with
reputable companies we think you’ll find interesting. However, if you do not wish to be included, please call us at 888.269.8410.
Find your comfort zone.
On so many levels.
Establish a comfort zone with Solarban ® glass by Vitro Architectural
Glass (formerly PPG Flat Glass)—now under new ownership and
driven by the same U.S.-based plants, people and products trusted by
architects for years.

Within the Solarban ® brand family of low-e glass coatings, you’ll find a
wide array of solar control performance and aesthetic options delivering
unparalleled choices. Backed by 50 years of proven reliability and a
formula for the future, you can find comfort in the Solarban ® glass family.

Start your own stack of Solarban ® samples at

vitroglazings.com/solarban or 855-VTRO-GLS (887-6457).

©2017 Vitro Architectural Glass. All rights reserved. Solarban, Starphire and the Starphire logo are registered trademarks owned by Vitro.
Starphire Ultra-Clear is a trademark owned by Vitro. The PPG logo is a registered trademark of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.
 The Journal of the American
Institute of Architects

Editor-in-Chief
Ned Cramer, assoc. aia
ncramer@hanleywood.com
@NedCramer

Managing Editor Art Director

Greig O’Brien Robb Ogle
gobrien@hanleywood.com rogle@hanleywood.com

Design Features Contributing Editors

Editor Senior Editor Aaron Betsky
Katie Gerfen Eric Wills Blaine Brownell, aia
kgerfen@hanleywood.com ewills@hanleywood.com Thomas de Monchaux
Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson
Associate Editor News and Social Media John Morris Dixon, faia
Sara Johnson Engagement Editor Thomas Fisher, assoc. aia
sajohnson@hanleywood.com Chelsea Blahut Joseph Giovannini
@SaraA_Johnson cblahut@hanleywood.com Cathy Lang Ho
@chelseablahut Amanda Kolson Hurley
Technology and Practice Karrie Jacobs
Editor Editorial Interns Edward Keegan, aia
Wanda Lau Ayda Ayoubi Ian Volner
wlau@hanleywood.com Ashleigh Popera Mimi Zeiger
@wandawlau
Multimedia
Associate Editor Video Production Manager

Design the Katharine Keane

kkeane@hanleywood.com

Assistant Editor
Selin Ashaboglu
Lauren Honesty
lhonesty@hanleywood.com

Videographers/Video Editors
Jim Van Meer

Next-Generation sashaboglu@hanleywood.com Dan Tayag

Design Group

Facade
Group President
Ron Spink
rspink@hanleywood.com
202.736.3431

Advertising
Register at metalsinconstruction.org Northeast, Digital, Mid Atlantic, Southeast Midwest
to enter your vision for a facade International
Christie Bardo
Susan Shepherd
sshepherd@hanleywood.com
Michael Gilbert
mgilbert@hanleywood.com
system that can play a major role in cbardo@hanleywood.com
202.736.3363
404.386.1709 773.824.2435

enhancing employee health and Lighting New Account Setup

West Cliff Smith Jaeda Mohr
well-being and earn a chance to win Suren Sagadevan csmith@hanleywood.com jmohr@hanleywood.com
ssagadevan@hanleywood.com 864.642.9598 202.736.3453
a $15,000 grand prize. 310.863.1153
Canada New Account Setup
China, Hong Kong, Taiwan D. John Magner Erika Taylor
Judy Wang jmagner@yorkmedia.net etaylor@hanleywood.com
judywang2000@vip.126.com 416.598.0101, ext. 220 202.380.3942
86.13810325171
Canada Marketing
SPONSORED BY Production Colleen T. Curran Vice President, Marketing
Production Director ctcurran@yorkmedia.net Matthew Carollo
Margaret Coulter 416.598.0101, ext. 230
Audience Marketing
Ad Traffic Manager List Rentals Director
Pam Fischer The Information Refinery Chris Lustan
Brian Clotworthy
brian@inforefinery.com
800.529.9020

Copyright 2017 by Hanley Wood. One Thomas Circle NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20005.
202.452.0800. Reproduction in whole or in part prohibited without written authorization.
All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.
Marketplace Lofts - Studio [intrigue] Architects, LLC
Lansing, Michigan

Looking for big and bold or soft subdued hues?

Õ>ÌwLiÀViiÌ«>iÃV> i«ÞÕ>V iÛi
ÞÕÀ ÛÃo ÜÌ ÕÌ V«ÀÃ} «iÀvÀ>Vi°
V  > Õ>Ì «>ià `iÛiÀ ë ÃÌV>Ìi`
Ìi}À>Ìi` ÃÌÕÀi >>}iiÌ >` > μÕV
 >`
i>ÃÞ ÃÌ>>Ì ÃÞÃÌi ÜÌ ÕÌ v>Vi v>ÃÌi}
À ëiV>ÌÞ ÃÕLVÌÀ>VÌÀð When your project
Arch
demands brilliance… specify Illumination.
nichiha.com | 866.424.4421 See innovation in action...
nichiha.com/howto
WEAVING EXCELLENCE WITH INNOVATION

Quality. Service. American Made.

The market leader in product innovation with unique and exclusive
features like Microban® antimicrobial protection and DOW ECOLIBRIUM™
bio-based additives, Phifer and the SheerWeave® brand represent the
standard in interior sun control fabrics.
Choose from more than 35 SheerWeave styles, including basketweaves, twills and decorative jacquards.
Our range also offers a host of eco-friendly fabrics with metallized, recyclable and PVC-free options.

Specify SheerWeave, the world’s most trusted brand of solar screen fabrics.
y
o u d l Ma de
P

Microban® antimicrobial protection inhibits the growth of

In
The USA
stain-causing bacteria, mold and mildew on the shade.

phifer.com/suncontrol
800-221-5497
® SheerWeave is a registered trademark of PHIFER INCORPORATED. | ® MICROBAN is a registered trademark of Microban Products Company.
TM UL, the UL logos and the UL mark are trademarks of UL LLC. | © PHIFER INCORPORATED 2017
 Meeting code is
only the beginning.
A single fire-rated OSB panel that gives you what you need
to help you design what you want.

2-SIDED LP® FLAMEBLOCK®

IN U349 ASSEMBLY
(UL DESIGN NO. U349)

Do more than you have ever thought you could with LP® FlameBlock® Fire-Rated
OSB Sheathing. It’s engineered to meet fire codes, offers an Exposure 1 classification,
and with a thinner panel it can deliver the same structural strength as FRT. Plus,
it eliminates the need for an extra layer of gypsum as compared to common wall
assemblies. It’s a proven product that saves you money in the long run and gives you
greater design freedom—all in a single panel.

Meet Code. Exceed Expectations.

© 2017 Louisiana-Pacific Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks are owned by Louisiana-Pacific Corporation. LPCorp.com/FlameBlock
 Architect: Rossetti
:[Y\J[\YHS,UNPULLY!>:77HYZVUZ)YPUJRLYOVќ
Photograph: Rafael Gamo

The Journal of the American

Institute of Architects

Hanley Wood Media

President Executive Vice President, Executive Vice President,
Dave Colford Operations eCommerce and Digital
Sarah Welcome Jennifer Pearce
Vice Presidents, Editorial
Ned Cramer Vice President, Vice President,
John McManus Client Operations Product Infrastructure
Mari Skelnik Rizwan Ali
Senior Director,
Print Production Director of Analytics Chief Design Director
Cathy Underwood Jennifer Malkasian Aubrey Altmann

Hanley Wood
Chief Executive Officer Vice Chairman Emeritus Chief Financial Officer
Peter Goldstone Frank Anton Matthew Flynn

Chief Revenue Officer/ Chief Data Officer/ President, Marketing

President, Media President, Metrostudy Jeanne Milbrath
Dave Colford Andrew Reid
Senior Vice President,
Senior Vice President, Vice President, Finance Marketing
Corporate Accounts Ron Kraft Sheila Harris
Ryan Flom
Vice President, Director of Sales,
Corporate Controller Emerging Accounts Group
Keith Rosenbloom Philip Hernandez

2017 Board of Directors

Thomas V. Vonier, faia, President; Carl Elefante, faia, First Vice
President; Bruce Sekanick, Secretary; Stuart Coppedge, aia,
Treasurer; Torrey Stanley Carleton, hon. aia, CACE Director;
Sarah Wahlgren, assoc. aia, Student Director; Joseph Lai, aia,
Associate Director; Peter Exley, faia, Director; L. Jane Frederick,
faia, Director; Donald I. King, faia, Director; Evelyn Lee, aia,
Director; Ron J. Miller, Director; Thierry Paret, faia, Director;
Katharine Weymouth, Director; Jennifer Workman, aia, Director;

Top
Robert A. Ivy, faia, EVP/Chief Executive Officer.
AIA Strategic Council: Jason Winters, aia, Moderator.

National Staff
Robert A. Ivy, faia, EVP/Chief Executive Officer; Abigail W. Gorman, mba, Chief of Staff; Kathron

Seed Compton, Senior Vice President, Brand & Engagement; Pam Day, hon. aia, Corporate Secretary
& Managing Director, Governance Administration; Deborah DeBernard, aia, ncarb, architect
aibc, leed bd+c, Senior Vice President, Global Innovation; Lisa Green, Vice President, Finance &
Accounting; Susan McDaid, hon. aia, Senior Vice President, Member & Component Services; Larry
Robertson, shrm-scp, sphr, cae, Vice President, Human Resources; Phil Simon, hon. aia, cae,
Vice President, Special Initiatives; Jay A. Stephens, esq., hon. aia, Senior Vice President & General
Counsel; Terri Stewart, cae, hon. aia, Senior Vice President, Knowledge and Practice.
Arthur Ashe Stadium at USTA’s Billie Jean King National
Tennis Center is one of sport’s most beloved venues. Management Team
Greg Appler, Managing Director, Brand & Creative; Suzanne Bagheri, cpa, Managing Director,
)\[P[ZYVVÅLZZKLZPNUTLHU[YHPUVM[LUZ[VWWLKWSH`;VRLLW
Accounting; Gwen Berlekamp, cae, Managing Director, Component Collaboration & Resources;
[V\YUHTLU[ZVUZJOLK\SL[OLZ[HKP\T»ZVYPNPUHSKLZPNULYZ Young Chang, pmp, Managing Director, Contract Documents Technology & Operations; Kenneth
Cobleigh, esq., Managing Director & Counsel, Contract Documents Content & Risk Management;
architect RossettiHUKLUNPULLY>:77HYZVUZ)YPUJRLYOV,
John Crosby, Managing Director, Corporate Partnerships; Andrew Goldberg, assoc. aia, Managing
WYVWVZLK[OL[LUUPZ^VYSK»ZSHYNLZ[SVUNZWHUYL[YHJ[HISL Director, Government Relations & Advocacy; Christopher Gribbs, assoc. aia, Managing Director,
Convention; Damon Leverett, aia, Managing Director, Diversity & Emerging Professionals; Stephen
YVVM>P[OHTPU\[LVWLUPUN[PTLHUKHKLZPNU[OH[RLLWZ
Martin, Managing Director, Professional Development & Resources; Philip O’Neal, Managing
ZPNO[SPULZ\UVIZ[Y\J[LK[OLUL^SPNO[^LPNO[MHIYPJHUK Director, Information Technology; Jeffrey Raymond, Managing Director, Product Strategy Group;
Cedric Rush, Managing Director, Membership Strategy & Services; Frank Scanlan, Managing
Z[LLSJHUVW`PZMH]VYLK[V^PUV]LYH[OSL[LZHUKMHUZHSPRL
Director, Strategic Communications & Content.
Read more about it in Metals in Construction online.

PEFC Certified

This product is
from sustainably
managed forests and
controlled sources

PEFC/29-31-337 www.pefc.org

PEFC certification applies to text only

W W W . S I N Y. O R G
 Bold Visual Effects
NEW Precision Series wall panels create dramatic shadow lines

Arlington Community School, Jacksonville, FL

Architect: Ebert Norman Brady Installing contractor: Thorne Metal Systems
Profile: HWPC wall panel Color: Berkshire Blue

HWP
WITH OR WITHOUT CLIP

HIGHLINE B1 HIGHLINE B2 G E C1
WITH OR WITHOUT CLIP WITH OR WITHOUT CLIP W UT CLIP

HIGHLINE C2 HIGHLINE M1 HIGHLINE S1 HIGHLINE S2

WITH OR WITHOUT CLIP WITH OR WITHOUT CLIP WITH OR WITHOUT CLIP WITH OR WITHOUT CLIP

3UHFLVLRQ6HULHVZDOOSDQHOVSURYLGHGHVLJQưH[LELOLW\ZLWKHDV\FRVWHƬHFWLYH
KRUL]RQWDORUYHUWLFDOLQVWDOODWLRQ3DQHOVDUHDYDLODEOHLQ(1(5*<67$5 FRORUV

PAC-CLAD.COM | IL: 1 800 PAC CLAD | MD: 1 800 344 1400 | TX: 1 800 441 8661 | GA: 1 800 272 4482 | MN: 1 877 571 2025
 JOURNEY THE WORLD.
ARRIVE TRANSFORMED.

Casablanca Step into this sultry reimagining of

the Golden Era Movement. Discover the breadth of
our entire collection of bathroom products at dxv.com
This DXV bathroom was designed by Kati Curtis.
DXV presents the Fitzgerald ® Freestanding Soaking Tub and Keefe ® Collection Faucets.
© AS America, Inc. 2017

CLASSIC GOLDEN ERA MODERN CONTEMPORARY

The patio …
The patio … is where the lighter side of life happe

Showing home buyers innovative patio and b

HOT SPOTS

increases their desire for an outdoor fireplac

RESEARCH STUDY

according Napoleon’s new Hot Spots Resea

How key home areas and attributes impact home buyers and their purchase decisions.

Napoleon outdoor fireplaces are the perfect addition to any backyard oa

Visit NapoleonFireplaces.com/Hotspots to receive a copy of the groun
Hot Spots Research Study and learn more about our entire product line
ens.

577%
backyard designs
ce by 577%,
rch Study.

asis.
ndbreaking
.
 “I love living outside of the city where my
dogs can run and my kids can explore.”

Know who
to target.
Introducing Metrostudy’s
Consumer Intelligence.
Your customer in detail.

He wants his children to grow up in a town where they

have room to run, play, enjoy the outdoors and just be
kids. Quality time together is at the core of his family.
He wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s just one of a wide
array of customers we can help you understand. And reach.
Learn more at WhyOnTarget.com
DESIGN DIRECTS EVERYTHING
adfilmfest.com

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN FILM FESTIVAL

NOVEMBER 1- 5 2017 NEW YORK

THE ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN FILM FESTIVAL (ADFF) IS THE

NATION’S LARGEST FILM FESTIVAL DEVOTED TO THE CREATIVE
SPIRIT OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN. THIS FALL’S NINTH
SEASON PROMISES A FANTASTIC LINEUP OF EVENTS–OVER 30
DOCUMENTARIES, INDUSTRY LEADERS, Q&AS, SPIRITED PANEL
DISCUSSIONS, GREAT PARTIES... AND MUCH MORE.

CINÉPOLIS CHELSEA 260 WEST 23RD STREET

 When You Rethink
Everything, Doors Don’t
Just Open, They Vanish.

How do you design walls that open seamlessly to the beautiful landscape outside? You start with a window
and door company that works tirelessly on new ideas. We’ll show you innovations like lift and slide door
technology that raises the standard of a tight door seal, and door systems with bi-fold panels that stack against
a wall or pocketing multi-slide panels that disappear completely. We’ll even give you ways to turn the corner
of a room into a marvel of glass with a view. Doors that open up new possibilities – it’s one of the many benefits
of craftsmanship without compromise.
www.SierraPacificWindows.com I 800-824-7744 I A Division Of
20 ARCHITECT, The Journal of the American Institute of Architects, September 2017

and botanical gardens, san marino, california, archneff

Design Across Borders wallace neff; the huntington library, art collections,

The prolonged, interlinked history of California and Mexico inspires “Found in Translation: Design in California and Mexico, 1915–
1985,” a new exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Organized around four themes—Spanish colonial inspiration,
pre-Hispanic revivals, folk art and craft traditions, and Modernism—the show opens Sept. 17; it will feature more than 250 pieces
including furniture, artworks, textiles, photographs, and films, as well as works from architects such as Richard Neutra, John
Lautner, Luis Barragán, Ricardo Legorreta, and Wallace Neff (his Arthur K. Bourne House in Palm Springs is above). —ayda ayoubi

> Read more about the exhibition at bit.ly/LACMAMexicoCA.

22

Buildings for Body and Soul christopher barrett

From an open-air waiting area in a Uganda surgical center by Kliment Halsband Architects to a geometric red pediatric clinic in
Arkansas by Marlon Blackwell Architects, the seven winners of this year’s AIA/AAH Healthcare Design Awards show how far the
typology has moved beyond supplying sterile rooms for patient care. Even in the massive 509,500-square-foot Jacobs Medical
Center at UC San Diego Health by CannonDesign, moments like the design of the nondenominational chapel (above) illustrate an
understanding that healthcare architecture must be holistic. —sara johnson

> Read about the rest of the 2017 AIA/AAH Healthcare Design Awards winners at bit.ly/AIAHealthcare2017.
Curtain Call.
Want a low-maintenance curtain wall that’s recognized
for performance? Our proprietary materials maintain
color to make beauty sustainable. The durable
NBK terracotta facade system keeps clean
aesthetics in the limelight.

NBKUSA.com

TERRART™ LARGE, ROBERTS PAVILION AT CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

24

Cultural Ramparts at Edinburgh Castle

In August, a team led by U.S.-based design practice WHY was announced as the winner of the Ross Pavilion International Design
courtesy why

Competition, held by the City of Edinburgh Council along with the Ross Development Trust. Located in the historic West Princes
Street Gardens below Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, the £25 million (about $32 million) project, which will be the firm’s first in
Europe, will upgrade the gardens and embed within the landscape a pavilion for cultural events, a visitor center, and a café.
Construction of the project is set to begin next year. —ashleigh popera

> Read more about the winning scheme for the Ross Pavilion International Design Competition at bit.ly/RossPavilion.
 SURE WE’RE GREEN—
JUST NOT INSIDE OUR
HAND DRYERS.

Only our exclusive TRI-Umph™ hand dryer is 99%

free from mold and bacteria. The green we’re referring
to is mold, mildew and bacteria and you won’t find them
in our TRI-Umph™ hand dryer. Unlike competitor hand
dryers that collect water which turns into bacteria—
TRI-Umph™’s unique design eliminates 99% of bacteria.
Welcome to safe solutions—welcome to the new ASI.
For our new catalog, call 914.476.9000
or visit americanspecialties.com
26

A Chicago Comic

A new graphic novel from the Chicago Architecture Foundation poses questions on issues such as gentrification and displacement
april greer

across 17 local neighborhoods, as they affect the lives of teens past (1928), present (2017), and future (2211). No Small Plans (2017) by
Gabrielle Lyon with Eyes of the Cat Illustration is inspired by Walter Moody’s 1911 Wacker’s Manual—an illustrated textbook that helped
promote Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett’s 1909 Plan of Chicago in city schools. The novel is part of the foundation’s new “Meet
Your City” education initiative, and it is distributing 30,000 copies to Chicago teens over the next three years. —selin ashaboglu

> Read more about No Small Plans at bit.ly/CAFNoSmallPlans.

 UCSF Mission Hall Global Health Sciences Building, San Francisco, CA. Photo: Bruce Demonte

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME.

Style craves structure. Precast concrete allows voice to meet vision, encouraging connectivity at
every possible synapse of learning. You can achieve brainy and beautiful on time and on budget.

Build smart with precast concrete. Find out more at PCI.org.

28

Portman Pictures

Featuring essays by Preston Scott Cohen and Jennifer Bonner, among others, a new book edited by Harvard Graduate School of
Design (GSD) dean Mohsen Mostafavi, intl. assoc. aia, examines the work of Atlanta architect John Portman, faia. Portman’s
iwan baan

America: & Other Speculations (GSD and Lars Müller Publishers, 2017) includes commissioned shots by Iwan Baan. “The resulting
photographs, rather than being formal or idealized images of buildings, capture the view as if in a state of distraction; Portman’s
architecture, and by extension Portman’s America, is presented as it is today, for all to see,” Mostafavi writes. —sara johnson

> See more images from Portman’s America: & Other Speculations at bit.ly/PortmansAmerica.
 SAVE TIME AND
MONEY IN JOB
LOT QUANTITIES

SAVE 10% ON 10 OR MORE HAMPTON BAY® IN-STOCK CABINETS

48-HOUR SHIPPING 75 CABINET SIZES THE LATEST COLORS
FOR SELECT FINISHES AND 9 FINISHES FOR LESS

HOMEDEPOT.COM/HAMPTONBAYCABINETS
30

The Latin American Metropolis francisco mujica; the getty research institute

“The Metropolis in Latin America, 1830-1930,” opening Sept. 16 at Los Angeles’ Getty Research Institute, chronicles the development
of six capital cities south of the border: Buenos Aires, Argentina; Havana; Lima, Peru; Mexico City; Rio de Janeiro; and Santiago, Chile.
Through maps, photographs, plans, and prints, the show examines how the colonial city, originally shaped by Spanish and Portuguese
regulations, developed during the republican era in response to industrialization, indigenous revivals, and other pressures. Objects on
view include Francisco Mujica’s History of the Skyscraper (1929, above). —chelsea blahut

> Read more about “The Metropolis in Latin America, 1830-1930” at bit.ly/GettyExhibition.
 CLEAR SOLUTION ™

PROJECT: 21C Museum Hotel

ARCHITECT: Perfido Weiskopf Wagstaff & Goettel
GLAZIER: Wall Brothers Glass LLC

Mike Schwartz Photography

GPX FIREFLOOR SYSTEM BY

USA-made, 2-Hour Fire Resistive Floor System with the largest individual glass sizes.

Modular top-loaded fire resistive floor assembly for easy installation.

Can be used in interior and exterior applications with multiple glass make-ups and
frame finishes.

FIREFLOOR
For more information on the GPX FireFloor System and our complete line of fire rated
glass and framing products, visit www.safti.com or call us toll-free at 888.653.3333.

www.safti.com TM

888.653.3333 S AFETY A ND F IRE T ECHNOLOGY I NC. USA Made

 Does Then give
it wings!
your Enter the
2018 IDEAS2
steel Awards
building competition
for
soar excellence
in building
above design
the using
structural
rest? steel.

Entry deadline is October 6.

www.aisc.org/ideas2

There’s always a solution in steel.

American Institute of Steel Construction

312.670.2400 www.aisc.org

2017 IDEAS2 Award recipient | Austin-Bergstrom International Airport East Terminal Checkpoint | Photo: Joel Blok
Service,
availability and trust.
Now in a
fire wall hanger.

Introducing the Simpson Strong-Tie® DG fire wall hanger

that installs before the drywall.
Designed for floor trusses, I-joists and 2x sawn lumber, DG fire wall
hangers are tested and approved for two-hour fire-rated wall
assemblies and feature a recognized fire test listing in Intertek’s
product directory. This new fire wall hanger meets code and is
backed by our engineering, testing, and prompt delivery.
To learn more, visit go.strongtie.com/firewallsolutions or call
us at (800) 999-5099.

© 2017 Simpson Strong-Tie Company Inc. DGFIREWALL17

34 ARCHITECT, The Journal of the American Institute of Architects, September 2017

Best Practices:
The Hidden Costs of Hiring

text by nate berg

Hiring isn’t free. The costs associated almost always happening, especially at Create a Protocol
with things like advertising job openings, bigger firms. Wilburn estimates that, at To ensure that the costs associated with
dealing with recruiters, and the time the industry’s average annual turnover turnover and hiring are manageable,
that employees spend reviewing and rate of roughly 10 percent, a 200-person Kueter says it’s important to have a
interviewing candidates can add up fast. firm that wants to grow by 15 percent system. Shive-Hattery first identifies
Below, researchers and practitioners annually could be spending more than the specific needs of the office and
discuss the benefits of establishing a $200,000 a year on hiring alone. then leadership meets to decide
hiring budget. where to look to fill that need. Then the
Track Your Spending job opening is posted and the firm’s
Know Average Costs Wilburn recommends that, regardless in-house recruiter starts contacting
In 2017, Fayetteville, Ark.–based of its size, a firm pay more attention potential candidates. Once candidates
business consultancy Zweig Group to how much it spends on staff time have been narrowed down, they’re called
conducted a hiring spending survey for its HR department (or, more likely, in for two interviews—one technical,
of architecture, engineering, planning, its HR person) or on the outside the other to gauge the cultural fit.
and environmental consulting firms and recruiters that many firms rely on to do Afterwards, human resources, the
found that fewer than one-third have a the time-intensive job of finding good recruiter, and the firm’s leaders hold
budget for human resources (HR) and candidates. Tracking spending in these a formal roundtable discussion on the
two categories alone could help firms candidates and make their selection.
understand how much their hiring costs “There may be outliers with certain
“We talk about where is are and how to budget for them. Wilburn candidates where you might handle
our cost per hire now, how also suggests tracking expenses for things a little bit different,” Kueter
other parts of the process, including says. “But fundamentally we stay with
much have we spent this advertising, promotional recruitment our process.” This helps to prevent
year compared to last year. materials, travel, interview training for any accusations of prejudice, but also
recruitment employees, and relocation helps keep costs under control. Kueter
It’s all relevant.” packages offered to new hires. estimates the firm’s cost per hire at just
—Tina Kueter, director of human resources, Shive-Hattery To keep the costs of hiring under over $3,700 for 2017.
control, leaders at Shive-Hattery Not all firms need to systematize
recruiting, even though the average Architecture + Engineering—a their hiring to such a degree, but Wilburn
cost of hiring a new employee for an 400-person firm with seven offices argues that paying more attention to
architecture firm is $4,454, according in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana—meet the cost and process of hiring is part
to the survey. “A lot of firms don’t know monthly to discuss business operations, of becoming a better business—and
these numbers,” says Randy Wilburn, and hiring and recruitment costs are a better place to work. “We’re dealing
Zweig’s director of recruiting strategy. included in a regular report. with a finite supply of human resources.
Wilburn says hiring usually takes “We track it very closely,” says Recruiting and, more importantly,
between 30 and 60 days, and the typical director of human resources Tina Kueter. retention is one of the most important
$4,454 per hire is an industry average “We talk about where is our cost per hire issues in the design space,” Wilburn
that can climb much higher depending now, how much have we spent this year says. “It’s important for firms to go that
on the position being filled. And hiring is compared to last year. It’s all relevant.” extra mile.”

> To learn more about creating a hiring budget, visit bit.ly/ARHiringBudget.

 Question Conventional Boundaries

Text AMAUG to 62622 to view the project video

Durable: Entrance door panels

NanaWall Opening Glass Walls tested for 500,000 cycles

Efficient: Keeps extreme weather

on the outside when closed

Secure: Multipoint tamper-resistant

Engineered to perform in the locking panels close securely
toughest environments while Resistant: Benefit from high wind load
opening and closing with ease. and water infiltration performance

Explore our opening glass wall product families: Showrooms Nationwide

Visit NanaWall.com
Folding Sliding Frameless
800 873 5673

By participating, you consent to receive recurring autodialed SMS/MMS marketing msgs. No purchase required. Msg&data rates may apply. Terms & conditions/privacy policy apply www.62622-info.com.
 Torrential
downpours.
Tropical cyclones.
Tight budgets.
We protect your buildings from the world’s toughest challenges.

We’ve been making protective barriers for buildings all over the world for 125 years. And we know just what
it takes to protect your buildings from every kind of weather imaginable – and with every kind of budget.
Don’t take chances. With DELTA® air and moisture barriers, you can count on a perfect seal every time. So your
buildings last longer, use less energy, and stay dry.

No one knows protection like we know protection. Visit dorken.com

DELTA® is a registered trademark of Ewald Dörken AG, Herdecke, Germany.

Advertisement

Innovation is the hallmark of

progressive design excellence.

Hanley Wood congratulates and thanks reThink Wood

for its ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility,
design leadership, and inspired built solutions.
38

Detail:
Toranoko Nursery LVL Roof

text by timothy a. schuler

3 4 Like artist Katsushika Hokusai and his

famous woodblock prints, Takashige
Yamashita’s first project under his own
1
name is inspired by views of Mount Fuji.
2 The project, a nursery (i.e., day care) in
the small town of Fujikawaguchiko, is
for a client that also owns and operates
5
several assisted-living facilities on the
site. The client hoped the nursery could
double as a community gathering place
and organized a design competition in
6
2015. Takashige, who opened Takashige
Yamashita Office in Tokyo the same year,
won the competition with a single-story
7
building featuring a curved timber roof
1. 9mm-thick structural plywood that billows like a sheet on a clothesline.
2. 50mm-thick LVL For the roof, Takashige modeled
6
3. 0.35mm steel substrate sheet the curvature of each section, first with
4. 0.35mm galvalume steel plate a paper model, then in Rhino 3D. The
5. 60.5mm-diameter steel pipe final structure consists of two layers
6. 100mm × 100mm × 6mm × 8mm steel girder of structural plywood that sandwich
7. 9mm gusset plate with high-tensile bolt a series of curved laminated veneer
lumber (LVL) ribs. The ribs were cut to
specified radii by CNC machines out of
2-inch-thick LVL panels and attach to
portal frames via a 2-inch-round steel
pipe with welded steel plates. For longer
spans, the ribs are spaced at roughly
1 foot; for shorter spans, 2 feet was
sufficient. The roof’s profile measures
just 3.5 inches deep.
With so many structural connections,
a number of adjustments had to be
made on site. “It didn’t really go as we
imagined,” Takashige says. Despite the
suzuki kenichi

extra work, Takashige admits he enjoyed

the process. It gave him a sense of
satisfaction, he says, working directly
with the wood as does a furniture maker.

> To learn more about the conceptualization and construction of the Toranoko Nursery roof, visit bit.ly/ARToranokoRoof.
65th annual Progressive Architecture Awards

2018 CALL FOR ENTRIES DETAILS

Projects must have a client and a completion date after January 1, 2018. Judging will
Are you designing the take place in November 2017. Winners will be notified in December 2017, published
next Blur Building? The in the February 2018 issue of ARCHITECT, and honored at a ceremony in New York.
For more information and rules and regulations, visit paawards.com.
Progressive Architecture
Awards have a storied
legacy of awarding projects HOW TO ENTER FEES
submit your work at paawards.com single entry $195
for their forward-looking additional entries $150
vision. In many cases, the QUESTIONS? late fee $50

P/A recognition moved these email paawards@architectmagazine.com

DEADLINES
projects from on-the-boards regular October 27, 2017
late November 3, 2017 (Will include
to completion. What will
a late fee of $50 / entry)
you build, and what will your
legacy be? Enter the 65th
Progressive Architecture
Awards today! 2017 winner the menil drawing institute by johnston marklee
 ADVERTISEMENT

The prospect of double-podium projects like WREN spreading throughout southern California excites Cobo and Zapata. “New code language allowing multiple podium levels with Type III wood
construction allows us to maximize the density and speed of wood construction,” observes Cobo. For developers, that represents “bonus density” within Type III construction. For city leaders, it
represents the possibility of safe, new housing.

WOOD: MULTIFAMILY DENSITY WITH

TENANT-WINNING STYLING
It’s humbling when the Last June a new chapter for Los Angeles’ fast- explains Matthew Cobo, AIA, associate principal
rising South Park district was delivered when a of Togawa Smith Martin (TSM). TSM is an L.A.-
architect’s vision helps $144 million, 362-unit multifamily community based architect firm specializing in West Coast
rewrite a neighborhood’s called WREN warmly greeted its first residents. multifamily projects.

narrative. The $144 million The glittering pair of seven-story buildings

Double-Podium Breakthrough
transform the skyline along Pico Boulevard
WREN multifamily project in through a series of innovations, including the city’s The TSM design team faced the challenge of
making a signature design statement that met
L.A.’s fast-rising South Park first Type III double-podium design. The project is
earning rave reviews from the owner, tenants, city the owner’s 195 units/acre density requirement.
district does just that through officials, and the designer community. “We had to figure out how to hit that density
thoughtful innovation, within an 85 foot height,” Cobo says. They
WREN launched a six-building, $1.2 billion
accomplished it through an innovative double-
commercial discipline, and the South Park community that will ultimately add
podium design supporting five levels of wood-
over 2,000 rental units to the city’s housing
magic of a remarkably nimble stock. “The owner has big plans. WREN brings
framed structure, utilizing what is now a city of
Los Angeles standard code modification.
building material … wood. the first phase of that vision to market quickly,”
 ADVERTISEMENT

The building will be protected by a full NFPA 13 fire sprinkler system throughout the entire project. The wood levels above the “The structural engineers are able to do a lot of things with
podium are split into five zones with 3-hour fire walls. By providing the sprinkler system, the wood portion of the building was wood that they can’t do with other materials,” says Matt
able to increase in height from four to five stories. Cobo, AIA, associate principal of Togawa Smith Martin, project
architect. “Wood gives us lots of flexibility. We’re able to do
more things with exterior wall insulation and corridor wall
acoustics because of wood. The owner gets a maximum return
from the space. We utilize every square foot we can. The
Density wasn’t the only challenge. Because of TSM’s architect/job captain on the project, says efficiencies of leasable to overall square footage in this project
site size and shape, the design necessitated “Wood is a forgiving material, especially during were greater than 85 percent, which is a very good number.”
deeper interlocking units that were designed the construction phase, since it allowed us to
to showcase larger windows. Larger windows quickly resolve unexpected issues in the field code modifications. We are excited about the
were a desired feature because typical urban without compromising our original design. We expansion of this concept as we can now offer
in-fill projects are often shaded by existing were able to negotiate lengths and locations our clients additional density that was not
structures. Fortunately, WREN has open-sky of shear panels with our structural engineer to achievable before,” Zapata says.
access. The TSM design team was determined quickly direct our general contractor and their
As for WREN, the owner couldn’t be happier.
to make the most of this property attribute with subs. Wood is a material that lets you achieve
The amenity-filled complex was nearly 20
expansive windows. your design goals without affecting the budget
percent leased at opening. Full occupancy is
or the time schedule.” Zapata says.
Design Advantage expected within a year.
Meeting code proved to be an exceptionally
The challenge for wood framed buildings in positive experience. “The city was great,” Cobo
high seismic zones is how to provide large glass reports. “They have a developer services group
areas and still provide sufficient shear walls. that brings together many city departments.
To achieve this, the team worked with the Code compliance wasn’t an issue.”
structural engineer to determine the minimal
length of shear wall required at each floor. Any Lease-Up Excitement
area not required for shear wall was used for Is southern California leading the way in Owner/Developer: Mack Urban in partnership with
windows. The structural characteristics of wood AECOM Capital and Capri Capital
multifamily double-podium design and
were blended to create an aesthetically pleasing Architect: Togawa Smith Martin
innovation? There’s no shortage of opportunity
open grid on the exterior of the building. and belief. “We are very proud of this building. Structural: Englekirk
But larger window openings add structural It is leading a new type of design in the MEP: Donald F. Dickerson Associates
complexity. Wood proved to be the architect’s multifamily sector. With the adoption of the Civil Engineer: KPFF
best friend in conversations with project 2015 International Building Code, multiple General Contractor: Tishman/Morley Builders
engineers. Jay Zapata, AIA, LEED AP BD+C and podium levels are now acceptable without Photography: Kevin Korczyk / Jeremy Samuelson

Innovative Detail is a monthly presentation in ARCHITECT profiling distinct To learn more about new and innovative wood uses,
building design and modern architecture. It is sponsored by reThink Wood. visit: rethinkwood.com/architect.
Innovative technologies and building systems enable longer wood spans,
taller walls, and higher buildings, and continue to expand the possibilities for
use in construction.
THINNER LINES ALLOW
T H I C K E R S C E N E R Y. When you’re framing a spectacular
view you need windows that rise to the occasion. Narrower profiles, special
shapes, smarter glass. More design flexibility to broaden your horizons.
See the latest evolution in windows at weathershield.com.
Advertisement

Emerging professionals are

fueling today’s design conversation
with high-energy ideation that
challenges stated norms.

Hanley Wood congratulates and thanks Valspar for its

ongoing commitment to design innovation driven by
architecture’s next generation.
44

Next Progressives:
Paul Preissner Architects

edited by katharine keane

Location: I think I learned that there are a lot of

Chicago bad people who despite their work (or
because of it) feel like they own the lives
Year founded: of those who care enough about their
2007 craft to offer their labor.

Firm leadership: Favorite project:

Paul Preissner, aia The house I’m working on now with
my wife for our home in Oak Park. It’s
Education: a renovation of a pretty nice but pretty
B.Arch., University of Illinois; M.Arch., messed up English Tudor house from
Columbia University Graduate School of 1934 that seems to more or less never
Architecture, Planning and Preservation have been updated since it was built,
other than lot of paint. So, we have had
Firm size: Paul Preissner to replace even the sanitary waste lines,
One to four people which is a bit gross, but other than
some band-name-type name for an money, it’s going well. We just want to
Experience: office, now I think it just makes the most make it nice and a bit weird, since we
Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects; sense to stand behind one’s work with expect to live in it for a very long time.
Eisenman Architects; Skidmore, Owings your own name.
& Merrill; Wood+Zapata (now dissolved) Second favorite project:
Memorable learning experience: I don’t know. I really like and dislike all of
Mission: When I decided to quit working for Peter them equally. I see all the things I didn’t
I believe the primary purpose of Eisenman, faia, I gave him six weeks do right in everything that I’ve done.
architecture is to make the ordinary notice because I really liked the office
seem strange. It’s the architect’s job and its work, for all its flaws. On my Modern-day design hero:
to help someone reflect on their space last day, Peter yelled at me for leaving Kazuyo Sejima. I think she’s the first
and what it means. As such, I think my because he had thought things “had contemporary architect through whom
work and that of my office is to try and changed.” The office manager had I saw that architecture could be weird
make projects that seem knowable curiously thrown a rare party the night and important and weak and profound
but also feel a bit out of place in their before and left beer bottles around the and personal and significant without
environments and encourage some office, which Peter interpreted as me being heroic.
kind of mediation about why things are having a going-away party. I had to
the way they are in the world as we’ve listen to him yell at me for 20 minutes Skills to master:
made it. before I just decided to take leave of the Speaking Spanish.
chris strong

situation. The elevator was right across

Origin of firm name: from his desk, but I was forced to wait for Vice:
My parents came up with my name, and what felt like a very long time to take exit I probably buy and subscribe to too
while I used to think it was fun to have from an angry man staring at me. many magazines.

> To learn more about Paul Preissner Architects, visit bit.ly/ARPreissner.

 ADVERTISEMENT

WEATHERED STEEL OR JUST AN ILLUSION? COLOR IS THE KEY

The New 34-Story JW Marriott Hotel Pays Homage to Austin in a Surprising Way

The challenge wasn’t easy, even for a coating

company long known for architectural excellence
across hundreds of signature building projects
worldwide. The task was twofold. First, Valspar
had to devise a color palette that presented strong,
viable candidates for the HKS team to select from.
Second, they had to do it fast. Valspar had less
than two weeks to create coatings for four-foot by
eight-foot wall mock-ups that ProCLAD planned to
present to HKS in their parking lot.
Panel Pixilation
“I admit we were a bit skeptical coatings would
replicate weathered steel,” recalls Abeyta. “We
wanted to be very subtle with the pixilation of
the panels. At a distance the colors would soften
and coalesce into a pleasing interpretation of
weathered steel.”
Nearly 20 color options were considered. The
winning three proved to be a magical combination.
Just as important, the Valspar Fluropon coatings
will maintain the hotel’s desired look for many
years. Fluropon 70% PVDF coatings are known for
their lasting durability, meeting or exceeding the
Unmatched Experience “We didn’t want the building to feel like it could highest industry standards for color retention, and
Barrel Brown, Fudge, and Mustang are the whimsical have been built anywhere. We wanted it to honor resistance to chalking and chemical degradation.
names of three custom colors currently wowing the unique appeal of the Austin environment,”
Austin, Texas residents and visitors as they gaze upon reflects architect Eddie Abeyta, AIA, LEED AP, “Ecstatic”
the city’s largest and arguably grandest hotel. principal and commercial design director of Dallas- The JW Marriott opened to the public on February
based HKS Architects, the project designers. Yet, 13, 2015. The owner’s reaction was “ecstatic,”
What they see when they look up at the 34-story achieving that appeal through weathered steel according to Abeyta. “I believe it turned out even
western façade of the new 1.2 million sq.ft., proved daunting, especially on a limited budget. better than they ever imagined.”
1,012-room JW Marriott Convention Center
Hotel evokes the weatherized beauty of the Enter a metal wall design company called ProCLAD The public reaction was positive as well. On
COR-TEN steel bridges that dot greater Austin. Inc. of Noblesville, Indiana. Could more affordable opening day the hotel was pre-booked for
Interestingly, this towering homage to Austin Galvalume panels be installed in such a way they 520,000 room nights through 2021.
aesthetic also comes with a secret: It’s not all that it would mimic the deep mottled rusted look of
seems to be. COR-TEN steel? ‘Why not’ reasoned Craig Caudill,
ProCLAD’s executive vice president. Coating the
Visual Magic panels with colors that ranged from dark to light
The mottled rustic appearance of weathered steel, might do the trick.
so coveted in high-end building construction,
is actually a deft variegated pattern of coated Unique Palette? Just Ask Owner White Lodging Services, Corp., Merrillville, Ind.
Galvalume steel panels. The architectural artistry The pressure was now on an architectural Architect HKS, Inc., Dallas
of choreographing assorted panel depths, widths, coatings manufacturer to deliver high-performance General Contractors DPR Construction, Austin, and
and colors deceives the eye into believing it’s metal coatings that meet the desired aesthetic. Hunt Construction Group, Indianapolis
prized COR-TEN steel. For that, the project team turned to a trusted Curtainwall Applicator Bonnell Aluminum, Newnan, Ga.
name, Valspar. Mock-up Applicator Western Extrusion, Carrollton, Tex.
How this winning effect was achieved with Fabricator/Installer ProCLAD Inc., Noblesville, Ind.
owner-friendly economy is a tribute to vision, color Curtainwall Win-Con Enterprises Inc., New Braunfels, Tex.
science, and hard work. Panel Supplier McElroy Metal, Bossier City, La.

As one of the leading manufacturers of architectural metal coatings in the world, we bring a
proud history of innovation to the coatings industry. With an enduring commitment to durability
and an ever-expanding palette of color, Valspar offers unlimited design freedom to countless
industries, projects and locations.
46

Next Progressives:
1
Paul Preissner Architects

1–3: courtesy paul preissner; 4: bruce damonte

 47

5 5 6

7
5–7: courtesy paul preissner

1. Preissner completely restored both the interior and exterior of a four-unit brick apartment building in the McKinley Park neighborhood
of Chicago from 1894, which now features whimsical exterior lights and a horizontal gradient of black paint. 2. This irregular Tinley Park,
Ill., multi-use complex is comprised of three courtyard buildings that include retail and residential space with varying layouts to create
what Preissner calls “a much less monolithic chunk on the Earth.” 3. Preissner’s cantilevered structure featuring an elevated courtyard and
geometric exterior pattern is a proposal for the Busan Opera House in South Korea. 4. Part of the 2016 Chicago Architecture Biennial, the
powder blue Summer Vault is a freestanding geometric kiosk in Millennium Park featuring a 12-foot-diameter barrel vault, which Preissner
designed in collaboration with Denver-based Independent Architecture. It has since been relocated to Rainbow Park Beach in Chicago.
5. Preissner’s submission for an art complex in Seoul’s Pyeongchang-Dong district includes multiple cubic structures for studio, exhibition,
recreational, and social spaces across an 53,820-square-foot campus. 6. A proposal for a floating passenger ferry terminal on the Han
River in South Korea. 7. Also designed with Independent Architecture, this temporary, galvalume-coated, prefabricated steel structure
served as an event stage for the 2013 Biennial of the Americas event in Denver; it received a 2014 AIA Chicago Small Project Honor Award.
 C H A M PAG N E AT

: ȏ 8 P M PAC I F I C T I M E

NEAR MONTEREY
B u i l d.
With SUPA Doors MDF Collection,
you can build more.

VTDoors.com 1-800-827-1615 (ext. 10512)

©2017 VT Industries, Inc. All rights reserved.
50

Products:
How to Specify a Direct/Indirect Luminaire

text by selin ashaboglu

Technological fads come and go, but one Reflectance a percentage of the overall project cost
main objective will always remain true To the lighting novice, ensuring that (rather than a separate budget) it is
when specifying a fixture: achieving light the fixture aesthetically coordinates often difficult to calculate what the final
quality. In commercial spaces, direct/ with the interior design of a space expense will be. When it comes to a
indirect luminaires are a mainstay due to may seem like the most important project schedule, designers can usually
their versatile illumination capabilities. consideration, but it is vital to attend expect a standard eight- to 12-week
Here are some tips for selecting and to the technical criteria of lighting as lead-time, Taylor says. However, for tight
specifying these fixtures. well, such as the reflectance level of a deadlines, most manufacturers have a
ceiling material, says Maureen Moran, quick-ship option to expedite the fixture
principal at Washington, D.C.–based assembly and shipping process, which
MCLA Architectural Lighting Design. can significantly reduce the timeline to
“If [the ceiling] is white, then [there is] as little as five days with, and 10 days
more contribution onto the work surface without, a surcharge. It is recommended
below,” she says. “Dark, wood ceilings that designers check directly with the
normally have a finish that will reflect the specific manufacturer.
lens of the uplight, for a less desirable
result.” Ceiling height should also be Operations
accounted for—a narrow space between Ease of maintenance is a vital post-
Fold, Fluxwerx fluxwerx.com the fixture and ceiling could produce an occupancy issue to consider ahead of
unwanted beam reflection. time. “Although LEDs have a very long
life, drivers can fail and LEDs can have
The Basics Light Distribution a catastrophic failure,” Hennes says.
Direct/Indirect fixtures can be fitted Since direct/indirect fixtures can emit Issues regarding the compatibility
with just an uplight or just a downlight light both up and down at specific of luminaire components have been
distribution, or a combination of both; percentages, designers must find highlighted because of LED technology,
the upward (indirect) light can provide the right balance for appropriate so the different life spans and warranty
a softer ambient glow, while the distribution. “The indirect portion of the problems related to the driver and the
downward (direct) light provides general light distribution should be very wide light source must be kept in mind.
illumination for the work plane. Used in order to uplight the ceiling evenly,” Manufacturers do not always
independently, indirect lighting can says Melanie Taylor, vice president of include details on maintenance for
leave “the space [feeling] dull, like being lighting design at the New York office their products, Hennes adds, so it is
outside with a gray sky, because nothing of WSP. “The direct portion of the light often up to the designer to dig deeper
is punched up or highlighted,” says distribution can be narrower in order to for their client. Though the long-term
Michael Hennes, an associate principal light the work plane below.” maintenance of the luminaire will fall
at Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting to a facility manager, it’s the lighting
Design in New York City. He also warns, Price and Delivery designer’s responsibility to specify a
“be careful that the direct component Because lighting manufacturers do not product that can maintain technical
has good shielding so that it doesn’t publish a price list for their products, and performance while staying true to the
become glary.” the lighting design budget is generally design integrity of a lighting scheme.

> To read more about specifying a direct/indirect luminaire, visit bit.ly/SpecifyingDirectIndirect.

Studio E Architects
UC San Diego Athena Parking Structure
La Jolla, California
3/8” 16 Ga. Stainless Steel Fabricoil® Pipeline Attachment System

Stephen Whalen Photography

“To define a human-scale pedestrian walkway on the edge of a 7 story parking structure, we knew
an overhead awning was a good solution. We selected Fabricoil® as a durable exterior material with
qualities of lightness and airiness that juxtapose with the heavy concrete structure. The stainless steel
weave shimmers in the sunlight as it effortlessly drapes between the galvanized awning supports. It
creates an overhead rhythm and gives definition to the walkway as a place for people, not cars.”

Maxine Ward, AIA LEED AP Associate

Studio E Architects

800.999.2645
fabricoil.com
cascadearchitectural.com Pipeline Attachment System
 NEW BLUE.
NEW POSSIBILITIES.

SNX 51/23 on lue

“
™
New Guardian CrystalBlue
is perfect for contemporary structures
that are big on light, smart on energy.
Our clients prefer its light blue color,
and CrystalBlue pairs perfectly with the
SunGuard® coatings we specify.”

Paulo Perkins, GraceHebert Architects

SN 68 on

Spandrel H T

Order a sample at: GuardianGlass.com/commercial, or call 1.866.GuardSG (866.482.7374)

©2017 Guardian Glass, LLC

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Presented by:

HIGH PERFORMANCE JOINT SEALANTS

UNDERSTANDING THE TECHNOLOGY AND SPECIFICATION CONSIDERATIONS
By Steven Reinstadtler, Construction Market Manager, Coatings, Adhesives and Sealants Covestro LLC Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.A.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this educational unit you will be able to:
1. Understand the definition of sealants and
related terms.
2. Review end use applications of high performance
joint sealants.
3. Describe the different types of joint sealants and
where they are used in the built environment.
4. Explore the different divisions in MasterSpec where
joint sealants can be prescribed..

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AIA CREDIT: 1 LU
AIA COURSE NUMBER: AR092017-2

Use the learning objectives above to focus

your study as you read this article. To earn
credit and obtain a certificate of completion,
visit http://go.hw.net/AR092017-2 and complete
the quiz for free as you read this article. If you are
new to Hanley Wood University, create a free learner
account; returning users log in as usual.
High performance joint sealants prevent fluids, like wind driven rain, and air from passing through a filled gap while staying adhered to a substrate that
can move for environmental and structural reasons.

INTRODUCTION TO JOINT SEALANTS Definitions joint. A caulk, however, is usually composed

of a lower property compound, often a putty,
Every year, architects, engineers and specifiers There are many sealant types used in the built
with limited initial and long term compressive
are offered extensive learning units related environment. First it is important to learn some
and elongation properties. Caulks are usually
to the latest siding, lighting and flooring of the basic terminology in this space in order
specified in a non-moving joint where the main
product—some of the more sexy presentation to understand what a sealant is, and just as
purpose is to fill a gap or joint between two
topics. However, chemistry-dependent coatings importantly, what it isn’t.
substrates. Anne Whitacre, Senior Architectural
and joint sealants courses are routinely
Specifications Writer at HOK, explained
requested by the specification community A joint sealant, within the scope of the building
how she sees the differences: “For exterior
because these products can have a significant and infrastructure area, is a material that fills a
fenestration or roofing applications where
impact on the asset and building owner, gap and prevents fluids, air or other materials
joints can see movement, water infiltration and
but there is a lack of technical information from passing through the sealed area. It also
weathering effects, I usually will specify a high
available. For that reason, the architectural and has adequate adhesive and cohesive properties
performance joint sealant such as a silicone
engineering community has asked for more to form a seal and needs to be able to adhere
or polyurethane. For less critical, non-moving
information that covers sealant terminology, and move with the substrate while remaining in
interior joints such as some of the openings
attributes and properties of joint sealants, place to keep the joint filled and sealed.
covered by MasterSpec Division 08, a latex or
where and why they are most often used in
The terms ‘sealant’ and ‘caulk’ are often used acrylic caulk is adequate.”
the built environment, where joint sealants
are prescribed in MasterSpec and what to interchangeably but there are differences
Another source of terminology confusion
consider when specifying them in the different between the two. As defined previously, a joint
comes up when discussing the terms ‘sealant’
applicable divisions of MasterSpec. sealant has several desired properties related to
and ‘sealer.’ A sealer is usually a low viscosity
flexibility, adhesion and cohesion in a moving
CONTINUING EDUCATION

• Grade P: Pourable grade that application areas include:

can self-level
• Grade NS: Non-sag grade that is often Exterior joints in the following vertical surfaces
used in vertical joints and horizontal non-traffic surfaces:
• Class XX: Movement capability, • Construction joints in cast-in-place
expressed as a percent concrete
• Class XX/YY: Movement capability, • Joints between plant-precast
expressed as a percent in expansion/ architectural concrete
contraction
• Joints and sealant associated with
• Exposure Use T: Can accept traffic exterior cladding
• Exposure Use NT: Non-traffic applications • Joints associated with aluminum trim
• Substrate Use G: Glass and exterior envelope
• Substrate Use M: Mortars • Perimeter joints between materials
listed above
• Substrate Use A: Aluminum
• Perimeter joints between materials listed
• Substrate Use O: Other
above and frames of doors, windows
ASTM C 920 includes additional standards and louvers
used to characterize different types of • Control and expansion joints in ceilings
sealants such as: and other overhead surfaces
• Sealant hardness (ASTM C 661) Exterior joints in the following horizontal
• Movement capability (ASTM C 719) traffic surfaces:
ASTM C 920 defines a joint sealant using several descriptor categories.
For example, this sealant would be a Type S: Single component, Grade • Tack free time (ASTM C 679) • Control and expansion joints in
NS: Non-sag product. • Peel adhesion (ASTM C 794) brick pavers
• Isolation and contraction joints in
liquid that is applied to a surface such as Two other joint sealant considerations that
cast-in-place concrete slabs
concrete to protect it from wear, chemical can affect long term performance is the
stress relaxation properties and modulus of • Joints between different materials
attack and staining. The sealer can penetrate listed above
into small voids in the concrete surface to the compound. Stress relaxation is the ability
reduce absorption of water and salts or form of the sealant to elongate without imparting Interior joints in the following vertical surfaces
an impermeable layer or coating that prevents significant stress to the bond line on the and horizontal non traffic surfaces:
chemicals or staining agents from passing into substrate. Sealants that recover quickly and fully
the substrate. after being stretched usually are considered • Control and expansion joints on exposed
to have less stress relaxation than those that interior surfaces of exterior walls
Characterization recover slower. For modulus, sealants can be • Perimeter joints of exterior openings
grouped into three general categories: where indicated
Within ASTM, there are two committees
significantly involved with joint sealants: • Tile control and expansion joints
High Modulus: typically used in glazing
Committee C24 on Building Seals and Sealants applications, non-moving joints • Vertical joints on exposed surfaces of
and Committee E06 on Performance of concrete walls
Buildings. C24 has jurisdiction over standards Medium Modulus: typically would cover • Perimeter joints between interior wall
specifically covering joint sealants. Familiar most general purpose sealants used as an surfaces and frames of interior doors,
examples are specifications C 920 on elastomeric joint sealant windows and elevator entrances
Elastomeric Joint Sealants and C 834 on Latex • Joints between plumbing fixtures and
Sealants. For the scope of this training, we will Low Modulus: have a higher movement or adjoining walls, floors and counters
be focusing primarily on high performance elongation capability and reduce stress at the
joint sealants. sealant bond line which accommodates more Interior joints in the following horizontal
joint movement traffic surfaces:
ASTM C 920 defines elastomeric joint sealants
• Isolation and saw-cut joints in poured-in-
using terminology such as types, grades, END USE APPLICATIONS place concrete slabs
classes and uses that are used in reference
specifications as follows: There are several familiar end use applications • Control and expansion joints in
for joint sealants in a building that have very tile flooring
• Type S: Single component material different needs and therefore the sealants
In all of these applications, there is a degree
• Type M: Multi-component material specified can vary greatly from application
of expertise needed to understand how to
to application. Some typical joint sealant
correctly apply the myriad of joint sealant
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
CONTINUING EDUCATION

Two component polyurea based joint sealants are applied using

specialized plural component equipment and cure quickly to
reduce downtime.

Polyurea
Polyurea joint sealants are typically nearly
100% solids, depending on the formulation,
are typically two-component, and rapidly cure
to form a sealant with moderate elongation
Interior joints on horizontal surfaces that see traffic such as this One component silicone sealant is often used on vertical exterior
and high tensile strength.
decorative stained concrete floor can be sealed to make joints such as those around openings like curtain walls and windows.
cleaning easier. There are two general types of polyurea
Silicone sealants – aromatic and aliphatic. Aromatic
products to the different substrates. Wayne
Belcher, consultant and estimator for Unipro Silicone joint sealants are an inorganic material polyurea joint sealants are often used in
out of Seahurst, WA, makes a living at doing derived from a silicone polymer that is available interior applications such as control, day
just that. “More than just chemistry, ideally, primarily as a single component product. or saw-cut joints. In many cases, the entire
the implementation of a sustainable sealant concrete floor surface and joints are then
installation can benefit significantly from proper Silicone inorganic sealants have good adhesion coated with an epoxy or polyurethane topcoat
design assessment, sealant selection and to ceramic and glass. They provide excellent or the joint sealant is pigmented in a similar
synergy on the part of the construction team. weatherability and UV resistance and retain or complimentary color. Aliphatic polyurea
The basic requirements for the installation of their physical properties well. They remain joint sealants can be used in either interior or
elastomeric sealants are ever-changing and flexible long term and are therefore often exterior application since they are formulated
increasing as new and remedial construction specified in exterior fenestration applications with light stable components. For example,
technologies expand,” stated Belcher. like those in Division 08. Silicone based sealants some aliphatic based systems are formulated
have very good water resistance in vertical with polyaspartic resins, a technology used
This is the reason why some architects and joints and are relatively surface moisture in high durability exterior protective and
specifiers favor a one-sub approach for all tolerant. Being a one component product, marine coatings.
of the sealant work on a project. Whitacre they can be applied with easy-to-use standard
said that the general contractor encourages application tools. The main advantage of a polyurea joint sealant
the trades to apply the sealant only for their is their fast cure. This allows for quick finishing
specific area and that makes her nervous. “The One issue with silicone is the compatibility by cutting them smooth and flush if needed
preference is to have one sealant subcontractor with other sealants and some substrates such in applications such as concrete joints in
perform all of the sealant installation for all the as painted surfaces and wood—silicones Divisions 03 and 32. Another advantage is the
needed joint areas,” explained Whitacre. generally adhere well to silicones. Also, toughness, measured in tensile strength, and
silicones are not usually paintable and need water, chemical, abrasion and tear resistance
to be sourced in a color compatible with the due to their reactive chemistry. These sealants
HIGH PERFORMANCE SEALANT
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW fenestration color palette. Suppliers usually can be rained on or walked on often within
have a limited list of color choices. Additionally, minutes of application and are relatively surface
When considering high performance joint some architects and contractors prefer not moisture tolerant.
sealant technologies, there are several that to use clear silicone joint sealants since they
make up the majority of products that are have observed some yellowing of the clear Polyureas require plural component equipment
applied in the more challenging areas of versions. Silicone sealants usually exhibit lower that can be expensive and requires a specifically
the built environment. These are silicones, abrasion and tear resistance which limits their trained operator/contractor for application.
polyureas and polyurethanes. In some niche use in traffic bearing exposed joint applications Therefore, there is potential for an off-ratio
applications, such as uneven floor joints, an such as concrete floor joints. Finally, some mix if the equipment experiences issues. Also,
epoxy may also be used. silicone formulations contain products that can aromatic polyurea sealants can yellow over time
leach out during application and stain certain if exposed to UV light. Polyurea sealant products
substrates such as brick, stone or concrete. with lower elongation and higher hardness
cannot accommodate high joint movement.
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
CONTINUING EDUCATION

Polyurethane QUIZ
During the late 1930's, Otto Bayer pioneered
1. True or False: Silicone joint sealants generally adhere well to both glass and ceramic surfaces.
the chemistry of polyisocyanates, a technology
that led to the advent of polyurethanes for
2. True or False: Joint sealants and caulks are basically different words describing the same technology.
a variety of applications. Due to their ability
to vary physical properties such as hardness, 3. Which of the following is a characteristic of a high performance joint sealant?
elongation, abrasion resistance and modulus, a. Fills a gap b. Prevents liquid from entering a joint
polyurethanes are widely used in a variety of c. Has adhesive and cohesive properties d. Can move with the substrate to keep the joint sealed
materials such as foams for building insulation e. All of the above
and sealing, adhesives for construction and
specialty applications, protective coatings for a 4. Which type of joint sealant can be formulated to both seal as well as protect concrete floor joint shoulders?
variety of substrates, and a variety of sealants a. Silicone b. Polyurethane
for OEM, general industrial and construction c. Polyurea d. Both B and C
applications. Polyurethane joint sealants used
in the building, infrastructure and architectural 5. Which type of joint sealant provides a unique combination of flexibility, weatherability, as well as chemical
and abrasion resistance?
markets, which we are discussing here, fall
a. Acrylic b. Polyurethane
under this category.
c. Silicone

Polyurethanes are one of the most versatile

6. True or False: Polyurethane joint sealants only come in single component (moisture cure) systems.
polymer technologies and have found
application in the infrastructure and 7. Which high performance joint sealant discussed has a very fast cure time as an attribute?
construction protection markets because they a. Polyurea b. Silicone
provide a unique combination of flexibility c. Polyurethane
and weatherability, as well as chemical and
abrasion resistance. These joint sealants also 8. The solids content of polyurethane joint sealants is typically _______________ .
provide reduced VOC emissions, the ability to a. Medium to high b. Low to medium
adjust modulus via formulation, and superior
adhesion. A well formulated polyurethane 9. High performance joint sealants can be specified in which of the following divisions?

joint sealant provides the advantage of water a. Division 03 b. Division 04

resistance, long term flexibility and a higher c. Division 07 d. Division 08

level of performance on traffic surfaces. e. Division 32 f. All of the above

Furthermore, polyurethanes have faster curing

10. True or False: In Division 07 9200, joint sealants are specified depending on the type of joint and application.
times, allowing for increased productivity and
a more forgiving nature in the field which
drives their acceptance in multiple building
applications.

Polyurethane joint sealants come in both

single component (moisture cure) and plural
component (chemical cure) systems with
increasingly stringent VOC regulations. Due
to this increased solids content and lack of
solvent, these types of sealants needed to be
Ä This article continues on
http://go.hw.net/AR092017-2.
Go online to read the rest of the article and
complete the corresponding quiz for credit.
different speeds of reactivity. Single component formulated differently than those coatings with
polyurethanes are moisture cured and offer low solids. The removal of solvents, which are
used to compensate for viscosity, flow and SPONSOR INFORMATION
longer working life, while plural component
products have a standard-to-fast cure time, curing, require the low solvent sealants to have
limiting the window of opportunity when different characteristics and methods
installing. However, the faster cure time of handling.
provides a faster finish, which limits defects due
to rain or environmental contaminants such In most cases, fillers, pigments and other
as leaves or insects. If necessary, it also allows modifiers such as flow and leveling agents, As an innovation leader in the development of
for faster cutting or grinding in the case of solvents and specialty additives may also be high performance coating and sealant raw material
concrete floor joints as specified in Divisions 03 used to formulate a complete commercial joint technologies, Covestro, LLC enables architects,
or 32. sealant. Raw material suppliers have developed designers and building owners by providing real
technology and methods for joint sealant world solutions for built environment challenges.
Covestro, LLC develops coating and sealant
The solids content of polyurethane sealants is formulators to employ to allow for user-friendly
solutions for flooring, interior and exterior walls
typically medium to high. High solids sealants yet robust joint sealant systems. and trim, and roofing and waterproofing with high
have little to no solvent in their composition performance and sustainability in mind.
and were first introduced to comply with
CONTINUING EDUCATION

MULTIFAMILY, MID-RISE BUILDINGS

USING WOOD CONSTRUCTION Presented by:

A COST-EFFECTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE CHOICE FOR ACHIEVING

HIGH-PERFORMANCE GOALS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
WREN Upon completion of this course the student
Location: Los Angeles, CA will be able to:
Architect: Togawa Smith Martin
1. Identify the sustainability and economic
benefits of using wood construction for mid-rise
multifamily or mixed use buildings
2. Summarize building code requirements and
provisions for mid-rise multifamily wood-frame
structures
3. Discuss wood framing solutions that address
issues such as shrinkage, fire protection, and
seismic requirements while minimizing the carbon
footprint of the building
4. Explore innovations in wood framing design
techniques and wood product technologies that
enhance energy efficiency

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AIA CREDIT: 1 LU/HSW

GBCI CREDIT: 1 CE HOUR
AIA COURSE NUMBER: AR092017-3
The $144 million WREN multifamily project in L.A.’s fast-rising South Park district helped to rewrite a neigh-
GBCI COURSE NUMBER: 920013097
borhood's narrative through thoughtful innovation, commercial discipline, and the magic of a remarkably
nimble building material … wood. The glittering pair of seven-story buildings transform the skyline along Use the learning objectives above to focus your
Pico Boulevard through a series of innovations, including the city’s first Type III double-podium design. study as you read this article. To earn credit and
The challenge for wood framed buildings in high seismic zones is how to provide large glass areas and still obtain a certificate of completion, visit
provide sufficient shear walls. To achieve this, the team worked with the structural engineer to determine http://go.hw.net/AR092017-3 and complete the
the minimal length of shear wall required at each floor. Any area not required for shear wall was used for quiz for free as you read this article. If you are
windows. The structural characteristics of wood were blended to create an aesthetically pleasing open grid new to Hanley Wood University, create a free
on the exterior of the building. Photo: Kevin Korczyk / Jeremy Samuelson learner account; returning users log in as usual.

Multifamily housing has been, and continues to residential construction, the cost-effective, effectively achieve higher density housing at
be, a very active part of design and construction code-compliant, and sustainable attributes a lower cost, all while reducing the carbon
activity across the United States. In many of wood construction carry over to mid-rise footprint of their projects. Here are few
settings, that involves multi-story buildings multifamily projects too. In this article we experiences of architects who have completed
containing apartments, condominiums or co-op will look at some of the reasons for the rising some successful multifamily projects using
units designed to meet the needs of a broad popularity of wood in multifamily buildings, wood construction.
community or specific lifestyle. It can also review code compliance and fire safety technical
Cost Savings
include other particular residential uses such as considerations, and discuss techniques for
dormitories, convents, long term stay hotels and successful wood building designs. In addition Among their benefits, wood buildings typically
motels, or vacation timeshare properties. In all we’ll address two trends that are expanding offer faster construction and reduced project
of these cases, one of the most fundamental the opportunities for wood use in multifamily, first costs. For example, after completing
decisions facing a design team is what structural multi-story design. the first phase of a developer-funded five-
materials to construct the building out of. Steel, story student housing project using steel
concrete, and masonry typically come to mind, WHY WOOD? construction, OKW Architects in Chicago
but in recent years wood construction of various Developers and design professionals have switched to wood. “The 12-gauge steel panels
types has become quite popular and preferred. recognized wood construction as a way to used in the first phase were expensive, very
While commonly thought of for single family
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
CONTINUING EDUCATION

Source: American Wood Council

CASE STUDY: MULTIFAMILY Residential

DEVELOPMENT HOME RUN Permanent stay multiple-family facilities (R-2) and Transient (R-1)
(i.e., apartments, convents, dormitories, fraternities and sororities for R-2; hotels and motels for R-1)
NFPA 13 Sprinklers
100% Open Perimeter

Type IIIA Type IIIB Type VA Type VB

Maximum 5 5 4 3
stories
Maximum 85 75 70 60
building height
(ft)
Total building 270,000 180,000 135,000 78,750
area (at
maximum
permitted
2016 Wood Design Award Winner: Brooklyn Riverside, Jacksonville, stories) (ft 2)
Florida. Architect: Dwell Design Studio. Photo: Pollack Shores,
Matrix Residential Total building 114,000 76,000 57,000 33,250
area (ft 2),
single-story
Project: The Brooklyn Riverside building
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Total building 180,000 120,000 90,000 52,500
Architect: Dwell Design Studio area (ft 2), two-
Award category: Regional Excellence story building

Completed in 2015 for a construction cost of $24 IBC maximum allowable heights and areas for residential wood construction
million, The Brooklyn Riverside consists of seven
Type VA multi-residential buildings, with a total of was able to deliver a higher-quality finished requirements as a similar building made from
310 units and 77 private tuck-under garages. Density product for their tenants by putting more into any other material. Once building owners and
was an important design objective, and the use of the amenity package, landscaping, finishes and designers have that awareness, one of the
automated sprinklers as well as significant open overall character of the residential units.” Note most compelling reasons to use wood is cost.
frontage and parking allowed the design team to that Crescent Communities was the developer, Wood buildings tend to offer a high percentage
add another level and thus increase the number of
hence the original building name Crescent of rentable square footage at a relatively low
units. The project also includes a 2,200-sf clubroom,
leasing office, fitness center, gaming center, pool, Terminus, but the property was subsequently cost—which helps developers maximize the
and amenity deck, which features a covered bar bought by an affiliate of Boston-based Berkshire value of their projects. Wood’s aesthetic,
and lounge. Given the project location, moisture Group, and the name was changed to versatility and sustainability also make it the
management was a key design consideration. Berkshire Terminus. most desirable choice for many design teams.”
Among the team’s strategies, wood structural
sheathing panel was used as an exterior applied Code Compliant, Marketable Structures When asked how building with wood fits into
air barrier, breezeway entries and garage slabs are Crescent Communities’ mission of quality,
dropped 6” from adjacent finished floors and slope Many design professionals who are familiar
Jared Ford, Senior Vice President cites design
toward the exterior, and perimeter isolation strips with wood construction for two- to four-story
flexibility. “With concrete, you can’t easily
are used within each unit, between the gypcrete, residential structures are not aware that
design to have the building pop in and out to
wall finish, and baseplate. the International Building Code (IBC) allows
create the architectural reveals the way you can
five stories of wood-frame construction in
with a wood-frame building. We can do a lot
many residential building occupancies and six
heavy and difficult to install; and welding and more design-wise with wood that we couldn’t
stories for business occupancies. Five-story
screwing the shear strap bracing was very do with other products. So both our design
wood buildings are increasingly common, but
time consuming,” says project architect Eileen goals and our commitment to the environment
some designers used to other materials still
Schoeb. “Using wood was far more economical provided the motivation for Crescent Terminus
aren’t aware that the International Building
for the second phase.” to be a wood-frame building.”
Code (IBC) allows five stories of wood-frame
Similarly, for the three-building, five-story construction for most occupancies—including Sustainability
Berkshire Terminus (formerly Crescent Terminus) multi-family, military, senior, student and
Wood construction offers advantages
development in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead affordable housing—and six for business.
for project teams seeking green building
district, wood framing helped to achieve overall “Wood buildings are quality buildings, and
certification or simply to reduce the
budget goals. Architect Erik Brock of Lord Aeck they’re safe buildings,” said Lisa Podesto, PE,
environmental impact of their buildings. Wood
Sargent noted, “From a design standpoint, we Senior Technical Director with WoodWorks-
grows naturally and is renewable, and life cycle
were able to use wood to introduce a fresh, Wood Products Council. “Building codes are
assessment studies consistently show that wood
contemporary aesthetic to a mid-rise multi-level meant to be material neutral, which means that
offers environmental advantages in terms of
development. By saving on the framing and a midrise wood-frame building is required to
embodied energy, air pollution, water pollution,
speed of construction, Crescent Communities meet all of the same safety and performance
and other impact indicators.1
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
CONTINUING EDUCATION

online Wood Carbon Calculator for Buildings3, and B sub-types with A indicating higher fire
CASE STUDY:
the project has been shown to store and avoid resistance ratings than B.
LUXURY AND PERFORMANCE
the equivalent to 13,523 metric tons of CO2. • Construction Types I and II are generally
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s limited to non-combustible materials such
Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator as concrete and steel for structural and
identified that this equates to emissions from some non-structural items. Wood is an
2,583 cars in a year. allowable material in nonbearing walls and
In terms of long term durability and life cycle, partitions that do not require a fire rating.
a survey of 227 buildings demolished in • Type III is defined as noncombustible
Minneapolis/St. Paul found that buildings are exterior walls and interior walls of any
often torn down within 50 years. This was true material allowed by code. Fire-retardant-
regardless of construction materials, and was treated wood framing is allowed per the
instead more commonly due to the changing provisions of the code for exterior wall
Berkshire Terminus, Atlanta, Georgia. Architect: Lord Aeck building needs and increasing land values as assemblies of a 2-hour rating or less.
Photo: Richard Lubrant opposed to material performance issues.4
• Type IV is also known as Heavy Timber
Overall, wood buildings in the study had the
Project: Berkshire Terminus (HT) and also requires noncombustible
longest life spans, showing that wood structural
Location: Atlanta, Georgia exterior walls. Interior building elements are
systems are fully capable of meeting a building’s
Architect: Lord Aeck Sargent defined as made from solid or laminated
longevity expectations. In addition, when the
wood without concealed spaces. The IBC
Year of completion: 2014 embodied energy in demolished buildings
elaborates on different types of solid and
Surrounded by high-rises, Berkshire Terminus is considered along with the implications of
laminated wood products and requirements
consists of three luxury apartment buildings, each material disposal it is clear that longer lasting
with three levels of parking topped with five stories for each. This construction type has
buildings are more sustainable. Further, the
of wood-frame construction. received a lot of attention lately due to its
fact that wood can be reused at the end of
“This land was at a cost basis that is among the growing use in multi-story buildings of all
its service life in a building, either through
highest in our portfolio,” says Jared Ford, Senior types, including multifamily.
renovation or deconstruction and reuse (with
Vice President for Crescent Communities. “It’s • Type V allows structural elements, exterior
prime real estate, but that’s where the market is.
minimal additional processing) is a significant
advantage. walls, and interior walls to be constructed
We’re either building or hunting in 13 of the top
20 metropolitan markets, and we’re almost entirely of any material allowed by code including
focused on wood-frame multi-family apartments.” THE BUILDING CODE AND common wood framing systems.
WOOD CONSTRUCTION
As with any complex project, there were a number Tim Smith, AIA, is a founding principal of
of design challenges. For example, to maintain the As with any type of construction, mastering the Togawa Smith Martin, Inc. in Los Angeles, and a
integrity of the fire rating of the exterior bearing
technical details of wood-frame construction pioneer of five-story wood framing in California.
walls, the team used top-chord bearing trusses
for the floor framing. To minimize shrinkage,
is critical to creating cost-effective buildings He has looked carefully at the appropriate use
techniques included using engineered wood for that are durable, safe, and code compliant. of each of these five construction types and
the plates and blocking in the first two floors, and Building codes require all building systems to notes that, “From a cost perspective it makes no
larger sealant joints around windows and doors perform to the same level of safety, regardless sense to use Type I for five stories. Type I is more
to allow movement. The team also designed stairs of material used, and wood-frame structures realistic for taller buildings. Type III using wood
with double stud walls to provide a 2-hour fire can be designed to meet or exceed standards
separation, specified concrete block construction at
construction helps fill the gap between low-rise
for (among other things) fire protection, and taller buildings.”
the elevator shaft, and used a wood-frame wall to
separate the elevator shaft from the rest of seismic performance, and resistance to high
winds. The International Building Code (IBC) is Permissible Increases in Area and Height
the construction.
the predominant model building code in the Chapter 5 of the IBC addresses “General
United States, having been adopted by most Building Heights and Areas.” There are several
From a carbon footprint perspective, wood jurisdictions with or without amendments. It considerations here:
continues to store carbon absorbed during is reviewed and/or amended over a three year
the tree’s growing cycle, keeping it out • Allowable heights are determined
cycle with the 2015 edition being the latest
of the atmosphere for the lifetime of the based on occupancy classification and
version and the one that will be referenced
building—or longer if the wood is reclaimed construction type as shown in Table 504.3.
throughout this article. (Note that for specific
at the end of the building’s service life and Multifamily buildings (R Occupancy) with
projects in specific locations, other versions may
reused or manufactured into other products. no sprinklers and built with Type III, IV or
be in effect such as the 2012 edition.) Some
The manufacturing of wood products also V construction are allowed to be between
specific, relevant items are addressed as follows.
results in less greenhouse gas emissions than 40 and 65 feet tall depending on Type and
other materials.2 For example, the Berkshire Construction Types subtype (A or B). However, virtually all new
Terminus development in Atlanta includes three R Occupancy multifamily buildings must
Chapter 6 of the IBC categorizes buildings
buildings, each with five stories of wood- frame now have fire sprinklers under Chapter 9
into five distinct types of construction. Each
construction over a concrete podium. Using the of the code. Therefore, new multifamily
building type is further subdivided into A
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
CONTINUING EDUCATION

buildings with sprinklers can be up to 60 QUIZ

feet tall if a sprinkler system in accordance
with NFPA Standard 13R is installed. If a
1. Compared to other materials, installation time for wood construction is typically:
sprinkler system is installed per the broader
a. greater. b. slightly more.
c. equal. d. less.
Permissible increases in height
and area under the 2015 IBC 2. From a carbon footprint perspective, wood:
a. stores carbon for the lifetime of the building or b. loses an average of 4,000 metric tons of CO2 per
IBC Table 503: Base Height longer if the wood is reclaimed and reused or five-story building.
manufactured into other products.
Roof
c. stores carbon until it is cut into lumber. d. loses carbon into the atmosphere once the building
RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
4th
is enclosed.
4 STORIES

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
3rd
3. Multi-story light frame wood construction generally falls under:
RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
2nd
a. Type I and Type III construction. b. Type IV and Type V construction.
RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
c. Type III and Type V construction. d. Type II and Type III construction.

4. IBC allows increases in building height and area for wood construction:
IBC Section 504: NFPA 13-Compliant a. only if a sprinkler system is installed. b. if there is a parking area but no yard in front
Sprinkler System of the building.
Roof
c. when a mezzanine half the size of the floor below d. if fire walls are installed.
is added.
RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
5th

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
5 STORIES

4th 5. The design of the joints between building envelope components, such as windows and doors, must allow for:
RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
3rd a. moisture retention. b. differential shrinkage.
RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
2nd c. continuous load paths. d. airflow.
RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL

6. When a multi-story wood-frame structure is built over a concrete podium, the building is treated
by code as separate and distinct buildings:
a. for purposes of height, area and continuity b. only if there are fire-resistant wall assemblies in
IBC Section 505: Mezzanine of fire walls. the wood structure.
Roof c. if the concrete podium has two levels of d. only if the wood structure has four stories.
parking beneath it.
Mezz

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL 7. Fire-retardant-treated (FRT) wood is an acceptable substitute for a non-combustible material for a:
5th
6 LEVELS

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL a. Type IIIA exterior two-hour rated bearing wall. b. Type VB exterior one-hour rated bearing wall.
4th

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
c. Type VA exterior one-hour rated bearing wall. d. None of the above
3rd

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
2nd
8. True or False: Shrinkage effects need not be considered for horizontal framing members in the wall and floor design.
RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL

9. During an earthquake wood frame structures offer a high strength-to-weight ratio, which results in:
a. low inertia force compared with concrete or steel. b. higher inertia force compared with concrete or steel.
IBC Section 510.2: Podium c. containment of transfer loads induced by d. fewer redundant load paths.
seismic activity.
Roof

10. Panelized systems:

Mezz

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL a. are manufactured on site. b. offer better quality wall construction.
6th

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
c. optimize stud design. d. both b. and c.
7 LEVELS

5th

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
4th

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
3rd

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
2nd
SPONSOR INFORMATION
PARKING, RETAIL, OFFICE, RES.

PARKING

Source: Togawa Smith Martin reThink Wood represents North America's softwood lumber industry. We share a passion for wood and the
forests it comes from. Our goal is to generate awareness and understanding of wood’s advantages in the

ª
built environment. Join the reThink Wood community to make a difference for the future. Be part of the
This article continues on
conversation to “rethink” wood use, address misperceptions and enhance awareness of wood’s benefits and
http://go.hw.net/AR092017-3. Go online to
choices. Learn more at www.rethinkwood.com.
read the rest of the article and complete the
corresponding quiz for credit.
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
CONTINUING EDUCATION

Presented by:

VARIABLE REFRIGERANT FLOW

A VERSATILE HVAC SOLUTION FOR K-12 EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this course you should be able to:
1. Explain how VRF provides K-12 educational facility
occupants with a high level of control over their
personal comfort while reducing energy usage and
utility costs.
2. Understand how VRF addresses strict indoor air
quality (IAQ) requirements.
3. Identify how quiet operation and the ability to
handle varying loads makes VRF an ideal solution
for educational environments.
4. Describe how VRF systems require minimal
maintenance and no specialized training to
operate and maintain.

CONTINUING EDUCATION
AIA CREDIT: 1 HSW/LU
AIA COURSE NUMBER: AR092017-4
Use the learning objectives above to focus
your study as you read this article. To earn
credit and obtain a certificate of completion,
visit http://www.go.hw.net/AR092017-4 and complete
the quiz for free as you read this article. If you are
new to Hanley Wood University, create a free learner
account; returning users log in as usual.

VRF—THE SMART SOLUTION FOR low noise levels, a range of comfort demands for any location in the country, including the
K-12 FACILITIES across a variety of spaces and occupants, and a coldest climates.
preference for simple maintenance. A school’s
Architects who are primarily responsible for While VRF is regarded as a cutting-edge
challenges also change depending on its location
designing K-12 educational buildings have likely technology, it has a long, proven history in K-12
in the country; for example, a school in Florida
heard of Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) HVAC applications—both for new construction and
will likely have humidity concerns while a school
systems. However, it is unlikely that many have retrofits. Many building professionals are now
in Vermont will often face cold-climate heating
experience designing with VRF systems or a looking to VRF as the K-12 world changes. For
challenges.
comprehensive understanding of VRF systems example, regions that previously did not require
and their benefits. Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF), an HVAC cooling systems, such as the Northeast, are
technology, is a great solution for almost any now requesting cooling due to an extended
K-12 educational facilities face a long list of
K-12 educational facility. It responds to each of or shifted school year and hotter outdoor
HVAC challenges, including occupant comfort
this application’s specific challenges, offering temperatures. As VRF manufacturers continue
and the need for a high level of control. Other
industry-leading efficiencies, integration to innovate and improve, the technology
specific challenges to K-12 educational facilities
with ventilation systems, advanced indoor evolves from being a good solution for K-12
include: stringent indoor air quality requirements
air filtration, whisper-quiet operation, zoning educational facilities to the optimal solution.
(especially pertaining to ventilation), the need for
capabilities and more. VRF is also a smart choice

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

VRF represents approximately 90 percent of country. Now let’s explore the challenges
installed systems within commercial buildings, specific to these facilities, and see how VRF
Europe approximately 81 percent and China responds to each.
approximately 86 percent. VRF for commercial
applications was introduced to the U.S. market THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF K-12
in 2003. Since then, there have been major EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
improvements in the performance of the Schools’ HVAC requirements range greatly
inverter-driven compressor, including improved depending on factors like their size or age
energy efficiencies and reduced operational groups served. Perhaps the most significant
noise. There have also been major improve- factor determining a school’s HVAC needs
ments in heating capabilities, including the is location. Different regions have different
ability to provide 100% heating capacity while climates, population dynamics (how dense
VRF responds to the specific challenges of K-12 educational facilities, outdoor temperatures are below zero. the area is, and if its population is increasing,
offering industry-leading efficiencies, integration with ventilation
systems, advanced indoor air filtration, whisper-quiet operation and Over the years, buildings using VRF have also stagnant or decreasing), level of interest in
zoning capabilities.
discovered the benefits of its reduced and sustainability and building or energy codes. The
simple maintenance requirements. If you’ve graphic below demonstrates the challenges in
VRF—A BRIEF OVERVIEW different regions of the country. Despite these
heard that VRF requires a lot of maintenance,
The U.S. Energy Information Administration and that this maintenance requires advanced differences, VRF acts as a unifying technology,
states that as much as 40 percent of a building’s training, you’ve heard wrong. While VRF offering schools in every region a smart solution
operating costs are tied to HVAC and other manufacturers do offer training programs for to their biggest HVAC challenges. The next
mechanical systems. Therefore, it’s important to system designers and installers, the system is section addresses those challenges, and how
minimize operating costs while achieving other ultimately simple to operate and maintain. As a VRF responds to them.
goals such as reliable performance, personalized state-of-the-art system, it also offers powerful CHALLENGE: TIGHT BUDGETS
comfort and a modern aesthetic. VRF makes self-diagnostics that aid in troubleshooting.
the most of budget and space while offering Anyone involved with operating a school
Additional end-user benefits include: knows that energy management is an
energy-efficient technology that leads to
superior occupant comfort. • Reduced utility bills ongoing challenge. At the heart of that
• Personalized comfort control challenge are two opposing forces pulling at
VRF achieves such success by dividing a facility managers: keeping costs down and
building’s interior into zones, each of which can • Whisper-quiet operation keeping occupants comfortable. Energy costs
be operated separately. This is possible because • High Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) throughout the country vary, but even when
of the outdoor units’ inverter-driven compressor they’re relatively cheap, energy costs are still a
which varies its motor rotation speed, allowing With so much to offer, it’s no surprise that
huge consideration for schools that must keep
it to precisely meet each zone’s conditioning much of the world has taken to VRF, including
hundreds of occupants comfortable throughout
requirements while reducing overall power many K-12 educational facilities across the
the day. At the same time, the cost of energy
consumption. For VRF with heat recovery,
some spaces can even be cooled while others
are simultaneously heated. This is achieved
by redistributing the rejected heat from areas
being cooled to areas that require heating.
The system’s capacity is distributed among
the indoor units via a branch circuit controller,
which takes the refrigerant that comes from
the outdoor unit and distributes it appropriately
among a network of indoor units, allowing a
user to connect multiple indoor units to one
outdoor unit. VRF technology moves refrigerant
directly to the area that needs to be condi-
tioned, which is more efficient than moving
conditioned air or water throughout a building,
and allows for better control within zones. The
result is personal comfort control for occupants.
This isn't a new technology. VRF has been
used throughout the world since the 1980s
and in many countries is the most-used
HVAC technology. For example, in Japan
HVAC challenges in different regions of the United States.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

is going to continue to increase. Teachers and Below you’ll see sample, simplified outputs from allergy and asthma symptoms, spread illness
students aren’t focused on this fact, however. two actual simulations. The first compares the and impact air quality. Some manufacturers
They just want to be comfortable in their life cycle cost of VRF to water source heat pump offer platinum deodorizing filters, which
spaces, and they’ll do what they have to do to (WSHP) and variable air volume (VAV) systems. use nanotechnology to absorb odors to
achieve that comfort—adjust thermostats in The second compares the Energy Use Intensity neutralize the worst smells. VRF’s filters are
their classroom, open or close windows and of VRF to WSHP, VAV and the ASHRAE baseline easily accessible and washable, and last up
open or close doors. (PTAC-DX/gas). In an actual simulation, both to 10 years, simplifying and improving the
outputs would quantify the figures only visually effectiveness of routine maintenance.
VRF offers a solution to this ever-present
displayed here—for example estimating the
challenge by providing superior lifecycle costs. Continuously Providing Comfortable
Lifetime Equipment cost of VRF, WSHP and VAV
The first cost savings are seen in ease of design Temperatures
to the nearest dollar. These quantified estimates
and installation, as there is little to no ductwork
are based on specific input criteria such as With traditional, non-inverter compressor
and VRF enables an owner to reclaim usable
location, square footage and whether a building technology, the outdoor units tend to cycle
square footage such as in spaces that otherwise
is being renovated or newly constructed. throughout the day, turning on and off
would go to mechanical rooms. This can also
repeatedly. The frequent cycling causes major
take the form of minimized roof penetrations, CHALLENGE: STRICT INDOOR AIR QUALITY temperature swings and potential health
where two small refrigerant pipes connect the REQUIREMENTS
issues. VRF meets the load requirements of a
outdoor unit(s) to the indoor units, reducing
In K-12 educational facilities, indoor air quality space and maintains the desired (or set point)
installation costs and impact. VRF’s smaller
is vitally important, as healthier kids have better conditions.
footprint translates to a lighter weight which
ultimately lowers construction costs by requiring attendance and performance. Viruses, bacteria,
Providing Zoning Capabilities
less structural support and reducing the amount allergens, dust, gases and other contaminants
circulate inside, creating breathing hazards and Isolating an indoor air handler within a
of materials and labor required.
foul odors. Illness spreads quickly as kids touch classroom helps contain a sick student’s germs
While VRF’s initial equipment cost can be higher surfaces. As a result, schools face a host of within that zone, a boon to IAQ. Otherwise one
than that of some traditional HVAC systems, codes relating to indoor air quality (IAQ). VRF child’s sneeze can get passed along to many
VRF’s installation and operational costs are often addresses this challenge in four ways: people as air is shared among different zones
lower. For example, compared to integrating a within a conventional HVAC system.
controls systems into a building management Offering Advanced Filtration
system, VRF saves money during installation VRF’s indoor units have filters that capture
with its standard controls system. Further and remove contaminants that can trigger
cost efficiency can be achieved by selecting
an advanced controls system provided by the
VRF manufacturer, as this eliminates the need
for multiple controls integrators. Installation
costs can also be reduced because VRF offers
a simpler installation than conventional HVAC
systems, saving on materials and labor.
When it comes to saving money during
operation, VRF offers industry-leading
efficiencies. As efficiencies increase,
operational costs decrease. Thanks to VRF’s
inverter-driven compressor, users can expect
to see a savings of up to 25 percent on utility
bills. In addition, the ability to turn off zones
when not in use, such as over the summer or
longer holidays, contributes to further savings.
For example, the maintenance staff could
choose to run the HVAC in offices, but not the
gym, cafeteria or classrooms.
Over a product’s lifetime these benefits add up,
ultimately making the case that VRF is a superior
financial choice compared to other HVAC options.
Some manufacturers have even developed tools
that quantitatively demonstrate the advantages
of VRF, simulating the life cycle cost and other Select VRF manufacturers have developed energy modeling tools to simulate the lifecycle performance of VRF systems versus other HVAC
calculations for old and new buildings. technologies. The simulations provide quantified estimates to help the user make a more informed application decision.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

QUIZ

1. Which of the following is a challenge faced by K-12 educational facilities?

a. Occupant comfort b. Need for high level of control
c. Stringent air quality requirements d. Need for low noise levels
e. All of the above

2. True or False: For VRF with heat recovery, some spaces can be cooled while others are simultaneously heated.

3. In which region of the United States are many K-12 facilities looking to add cooling capabilities due to new, year-round
building use?
a. West coast b. Southwest
In K-12 educational facilities, indoor air quality is vitally important, c. Midwest d. Southeast
as healthier kids have better attendance and performance. VRF e. Northeast
addresses this challenge by offering advanced filtration and zoning
capabilities, continuously providing comfortable temperatures and
4. True or False: While VRF’s initial equipment cost can be lower than that of some traditional systems, VRF’s installation and
integrating with ventilation systems.
operational costs are often higher.
Integrating with Ventilation Systems
5. Thanks to VRF’s inverter-driven compressor and other efficient features, users can expect to see a savings of up to _____
Ventilation air is often viewed as a challenge in percent on utility bills.
applying VRF in school applications because a. 5 b. 15
of the high outside air requirement typically c. 25 d. 55
found in this application. However, there are
numerous ways to address this challenge while 6. Which challenge is met by offering both advanced air filters and zoning capabilities?

still maintaining, and even adding to, the a. Strict indoor air quality requirements b. Minimal operational noise levels

energy efficiency of a VRF system. The approach c. Varying loads and comfort needs d. Controlling multiple spaces

considered will vary based on the project’s

7. True or False: VRF indoor units have a lower decibel rating than a whisper.
climate, but there are a few common ways to
address this issue. 8. True or False: A school with several campuses spread across a county could use VRF’s advanced controls to manage every
building on every campus.
In warm and dry climates, outside air can often
be brought into the VRF systems via inline fans, 9. Which school discussed in this article is the largest Living Building Challenge Certified School in the country?
with little to no preconditioning of the outside a. Hollis Montessori b. Willow School
air. The VRF indoor unit will mix this air with the
return air from the space, fully condition it, and 10. Which school discussed in this article is the country’s first certified Passive Independent School?
introduce it back into the space being served. a. Hollis Montessori b. Willow School
This method is best suited for climates where
the design outdoor temperatures and humidity
levels, as well as the required amount of outside

ª
air, do not result in mixed air temperatures to
For those instances where a relatively large This article continues on
the coil exceeding manufacturer-recommended
amount of outdoor air is required, a Dedicated http://www.go.hw.net/AR092017-4. Go
limits. If this isn't the case, further conditioning
Outside Air System (DOAS) is recommended. online to read the rest of the article and
of the outside air is required. complete the corresponding quiz for credit.
DOAS units are typically designed to fully
In some regions of the country, excluding those condition outside air to room-neutral
with high relative humidity and depending conditions, allowing it to be introduced SPONSOR INFORMATION
on the amount of outside air required, this directly into the space, independent of the
conditioning can be achieved with an Energy VRF system. This is known as a decoupled
Recovery Ventilator (ERV). Often, ERVs can be system, and provides the additional benefit of
used with an unbalanced airflow (to allow pos- allowing the two systems to operate completely
itive or negative pressure in the space), and will independently if desired. In some climates,
allow for energy recovery to/from the exhaust the DOAS system may alternatively be used to
air stream prior to discharging. It should be temper the air, delivering it to the VRF indoor Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating is an
noted that ERVs, often used as preconditioning industry-leading manufacturer of innovative Zoned
units for final conditioning. However, it must be
Comfort Solutions™ and Variable Refrigerant Flow
devices, do not typically fully condition the noted that the resultant entering air conditions (VRF) air-conditioning and heating technology that
supply air to room-neutral conditions, so further to the VRF indoor unit must be examined delivers comfort and efficiency to buildings of all
conditioning is highly recommended before to ensure that those conditions are within shapes, sizes and applications.
introducing the air into the space being served. manufacturer-recommended limits.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Presented by:

COMPLETE WALL SYSTEMS

MAINTAINING CONTINUOUS INSULATION AND WRBS AT TRANSITIONS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this course the student
will be able to:
1. Understand the performance of the wall
components: air layer, water layer and insulation.
2. Examine the different types of details:
penetrations, terminations and transitions.
3. Identify common installation and detail problems
that occur on the jobsite.
4. Describe the assignment of contractor responsibility
for installation sequencing of the various layers.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AIA CREDIT: 1 LU/HSW

AIA COURSE NUMBER: AR092017-1

Use the learning objectives above to focus

your study as you read this article. To earn
credit and obtain a certificate of completion,
visit http://go.hw.net/AR092017-1 and complete the
quiz for free as you read this article. If you are new to
Hanley Wood University, create a free learner account;
returning users log in as usual.

INTRODUCTION system’s materials, layers and performance. regarding how wall assembly components
The junctures, or transitions, in building detail function at each layer within a wall—and
For centuries, buildings were considered and
design arguably matter most. Improper design how they are tested for performance. These
designed simply as shelter to protect from the
of these transition details can lead to some of concepts aid in understanding the physical
elements. Today that purpose holds, but the
the most common, detrimental and expensive behavior of a building as a system, and how
technology, design practices and materials that
issues in wall assemblies, namely leaks and that affects key performance issues such as
go into high-performing building enclosures
thermal bridges. energy efficiency, durability, indoor air quality
have evolved to do much more to protect the
and occupant comfort.
building as a whole, as well as occupants. In this article, we will review building science
Assembly components such as continuous fundamentals in terms of complete wall systems Wall System Components
insulation (CI) and air/water resistive barriers with continuous insulation and air and water
A wall system contains multiple layers of
(WRB)—once seen as overly conservative barriers. We will also look at aspects that need
components to create a cavity wall. A good
practices—are now required across the country. to be considered when designing transitions
way to think about a wall system is as a “ham
and penetrations, and examine common issues
Challenges associated with continuous sandwich” with the letters HAMM representing
that arise from errors in sequencing, material
insulation and water resistive barriers primarily heat, air and moisture both in liquid and vapor
compatibility and design verification.
concern maintaining continuity. Architects forms (thus the double “m”). These layers are
and building professionals can anticipate BUILDING SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS critical to wall performance, and they
and address these challenges when they are bolstered with new codes and higher
design details. This practice requires constant When discussing complete wall system standards that factor in fire performance and
application of building science fundamentals design and detailing, it’s important to review acoustic properties.
and an in-depth understanding of a wall fundamental building science concepts

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Wall system layers include: Moisture as a Liquid 15 minutes. A standard “pass” is accomplished
1. A structural system, which serves as the by having no moisture penetration occur after
Moisture can exist in three states, either solid
base of the wall. Possible construction 15 minutes. Most manufacturers, however,
(ice), liquid or vapor. Liquid and vapor are the
types for the structural system may be steel test to failure to see how much longer than 15
most common forms that cause the most
stud with gypsum sheathing, wood stud minutes their wall can resist water infiltration.
problems in wall systems. We’ll discuss liquid first,
with wood sheathing or concrete masonry because it is the most obvious and easiest to see. In short, the goal—and fundamental principle—
unit (CMU); Precipitation such as rain hits the outside of a of water management is to shed water by
2. A cavity, which contains multiple building and follows the path of least resistance. layering materials in such a way that water is
products; and A good way to think about this is to consider directed down and out. Given how critical water
the path of a raindrop from the time it hits the management is, it should be no surprise that it is
3. Cladding, which can be brick, CMU, stone,
rooftop until the time it gets to the ground. If the a top priority with building design. To reiterate:
metal, aluminum composite or any number
building is constructed well, the moisture will not the first rule of waterproofing is to weather-lap
of new sustainable materials.
rest on seams or find a way into the building. If it installations so that the water has a clear
The wall cavity is critical, because it is where does find its way inside, problems can be endless. pathway from the top of the building all the way
the most important aspects of building The first step to controlling moisture penetration to the ground, and then away from the building.
science and performance are addressed. is to test the structure’s performance. Water should never have a place to stop or pool
Everything occurs in this space including air on a building, where it then might enter the
ASTM International has made specification and
and water management, thermal comfort, structure. This is a relatively basic and somewhat
installation to resist moisture infiltration very
vapor control, fire resistance, acoustic obvious concept, but it is something that is
easy with ASTM E2112, a standard specification
isolation and structural considerations such often overlooked in architectural drawings or
for installing windows in a manner that
as how insulation and cladding are attached in-field repairs and should be kept in mind when
prevents liquid water from penetrating the wall;
to the wall. analyzing the specific details of a design.
note the raindrop illustration below.
Heat
Thermal comfort—the task of keeping heat
either in or out of a building—mainly deals with
the transfer of heat. In the U.S., this involves
what are known as U-factors, k-factors and
R-values.
• “U-factor” describes the actual quantity
of thermal energy conducted through
an assembly. Lower U-factors represent
greater resistance to heat flow, and
therefore better overall insulating proper-
ties for an assembly.
• “k-factor” describes the actual quantity
of thermal energy conducted through a
material. Lower k-factors represent greater
resistance to heat flow, and therefore better
overall insulating properties for a material.
• “R-value” commonly is used to define
thermal resistance for insulation either
as an individual material. R for individual
materials can also be totaled to determine
total assembly R in the context of the
building envelope, such as the walls, floors,
and roofs.
ASTM E2112. Image courtesy of ASTM.
U, k and R are related in that they are recip-
For drawings and specifications, architects
rocals of each other. “U” is the reciprocal of
typically specify assembly testing in accordance
“total R” for an assembly. “k” is the reciprocal
with ASTM E331. This test is referenced in the
of “R” for an individual material. For example, a
International Code Council (ICC) AC38, also
0.25 k-factor equals an R-value of 1/0.25 = 4. A
known as the Acceptance Criteria for Water
Typical wall system layers for steel stud/gypsum sheathing construc- U-factor of 0.05 equals a total R-value of 20.
tion with masonry cladding. Components in the air cavity layer can Resistive Barriers. ASTM E331 applies a water
include barriers, flashings, sealing washers, drainage preservation, resistive barrier to an assembly, and then a wall In some instances individual material R-values
insulation, anchors and fasteners. Image courtesy of Owens Corning. of water is sprayed directly at the surface for are referenced when evaluating system
The color PINK is a registered trademark of Owens Corning.
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
CONTINUING EDUCATION

Building Codes Assistance Project Code Status Maps, Commercial Code Status and Corresponding List of Required R-Values for Steel Framed Walls. Map courtesy of Building Codes Assistance Project.

performance against energy code requirements. Air penetrated wall assembly, both of which are
R-value requirements for steel framed walls, tested for air leakage, conditioned at varying
Air leakage greatly impacts building energy
wood framed walls and mass walls vary across pressures over different test times, and then
efficiency and indoor air quality. Past building
the country depending on local energy codes, retested for air leakage before comparing
practices tolerated—even accepted and
editions and climatic zones. Local codes are the tightness of the opaque specimen versus
expected—air leakage to some extent, so that
based on both the International Building Code the penetrated specimen. For example, the
the building could “breathe.” Modern practices,
(IBC) and International Energy Conservation conditioning starts with long, low pressures and
however, recognize that the idea of having a
Code (IECC), and may be based on an ASHRAE ends with short, strong gusts, all intended to
building “need to breathe,” meaning random
90.1 standard or something mandating even fatigue the test specimen. To simulate positive
versus designed ventilation, is misguided, and
higher performance such as ASHRAE 189.1, and negative pressures the pressure is applied
instead encourage a sealed building envelope
depending on the building type and location. to both sides of the specimens. After the
combined with fresh air provided through
conditioning, both walls are tested again for air
The map and corresponding chart above show carefully controlled HVAC systems and other
leakage, and then compared. A difference of
current energy code requirements by state or controlled ventilation such as operable windows.
greater than 10% leakage between the solid
territory and a list of standard R-value requirements HVAC systems control the amount of air that
and opaque walls is considered failing.
as they have applied to the past few energy code enters and leaves the building, and conditions
cycles and varying climate zones. The first number and filters that air based on the energy efficiency ASTM E2357 tests the performance of a limited
listed is the R-Value prescribed for stud cavity and indoor air quality needs of the building and system, and identifies how well materials stick
insulation. The second number is the additional CI, occupants. Random air leakage is uncontrolled, together and adhere to their substrates.
or continuous insulation prescription. The energy unconditioned and potentially will contribute to ASTM E2357 is becoming the predominant
code is rapidly causing most commercial buildings the accumulation of condensation moisture in test to demonstrate air barrier systems on the
to use continuous insulation throughout the assemblies leading to eventual mold growth and market today.
country, even in places such as the southern tip system decay.
When an air barrier is not present in a wall
of Florida, where insulation was previously not a
There are several ASTM standards that define assembly, the HVAC system is compromised and
priority because of the temperate climate.
air barriers. ASTM E283 was one of the first works inefficiently to maintain thermal comfort
Continuous insulation is important because to demonstrate an air barrier, testing the rate and humidity levels within a building. Installing
it affects thermal bridging, or areas where of air leakage across the specimen through an air barrier as tested per ASTM E283,
energy used to heat and cool is lost, and where exterior windows, curtain walls and doors. As E2178 (both individual material tests), or most
the threat of condensation is the greatest. an early test, it was limited in that it only tested commonly as an entire assembly per ASTM
A building may have a high level of insulation, a small specimen at a limited pressure, and only E2357, helps create a wall assembly that allows
but it may lose energy because of too many looked at a single product. the HVAC system to do its job.
thermal bridges by careless detailing and design.
The standard ASTM E2357 tests larger Moisture as a Vapor
Later, we will look at specific ways to maintain
specimens (assemblies) at multiple pressures.
continuity of insulation through the transitions While exterior liquid moisture is easy to see as
This test involves an opaque wall and
and penetrations of the wall. it runs along the outside of a building, vapor
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
CONTINUING EDUCATION

moisture is a bit trickier to identify and deal QUIZ

with because you can’t see it and it happens
within the wall itself. A good way to think
about the concept of moisture as vapor is to 1. What are the 3 wall system components?
consider how a cold glass “sweats” in a hot, a. Structural, Cavity, Cladding b. Foundation, Structural, Cladding
humid climate, leaving a pool of water on c. Foundation, Framing, Roof
the table. A phase change happens when the
high water vapor content in the air comes into 2. What important function occurs in the wall cavity?

contact with the cold temperature of the glass, a. Air and water management b. Thermal comfort

resulting in water vapor gas condensing into a c. Vapor control d. Fire resistance

liquid. The same thing can happen within a wall e. Acoustic isolation f. All of the above

structure, especially where one surface is warm

3. True or False: The first rule of waterproofing is to weather-lap installations so that the water has a clear pathway from the
and another cool or cold. top of the building all the way to the ground, and then away from the building.

Wall structures should be designed to prevent

4. Which ASTM standard tests larger assemblies at multiple pressures?
condensation moisture. This sounds quite
a. ASTM E283 tests which of the following? b. ASTM E2357
obvious, but it is not always easy to achieve.
c. ASTM E2178 d. ASTM E96
Some key strategies are:
• Maintain temperatures in the assembly that 5. True or False: Modern fire rating requirements state that both the components of an assembly and the system as a whole
prevent moisture from condensing, or, must be tested for compliance in order to be considered safe.

• Prevent vapor from reaching a cold surface 6. ____________ occur between a change in plane, or change in material, and ____________ are actual openings to the outside
where it could condense, and or inside of a wall, such as a window or door.
a. Transitions, penetrations b. Penetrations, transitions
• Enable drying out of any areas where
condensation may occur. If a wall does
7. True or False: It is not necessary for the roof membrane to be continuous and tied in with the continuous air barrier on the wall.
get wet, every attempt should be made to
dry it as much as possible, and to quickly 8. True or False: In the floor line transition detail discussed, the insulations act as a fire barrier between floors.
address the problem.
9. __________ insulation, which is used in the foundation-to-wall transition example, is one of the few insulation types that is
According to the IBC, vapor permeable water resistant (and retains its R-value in the presence of water) and able to perform in the harsh below-grade conditions.
materials and vapor retarders are measured a. EPS b. Mineral wool
and classified with ASTM E96 method A. That c. XPS d. Fiberglass batt
standard should be specified during design.
10. Which of the following is necessary in quality control and assurance?
One question that must be addressed in
a. Sequencing b. Adhesion and compatibility
designing to manage moisture vapor is,
c. Verification d. Mock-ups
shall materials and assemblies be permeable
e. Testing f. All of the above
or impermeable? While older buildings were
inevitably permeable because of the available
materials and components and air leakage,
newer buildings can be designed to be either

ª
permeable or impermeable, and thus address
very specific moisture concerns. For example, This article continues on http://go.hw.net/AR092017-1. Go online to read the rest of the article and
complete the corresponding quiz for credit.
an art museum in Miami, a high exterior vapor
pressure environment, would require a building
design with highly controlled interior humidity
levels, so a vapor-permeable air barrier system SPONSOR INFORMATION
that would allow exterior moisture vapor to
migrate inward would be counter-productive.
In this case, an impermeable wall assembly,
that limits inward moisture vapor migration,
will allow the HVAC system to function more
efficiently. The bottom line is that building
designers need to consult with the HVAC
designer to discuss the needs of each Owens Corning develops, manufactures and markets insulation, roofing and fiberglass composites. Global
individual project and further analysis may in scope and human in scale, the company’s market-leading businesses use their deep expertise in materials,
manufacturing and building science to develop products and systems that save energy and improve comfort
be provided through consultants and in commercial and residential buildings.
manufacturer resources.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Presented by:

EXTRUDED ALUMINUM TRIM

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR INTERIOR APPLICATIONS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this course the student
will be able to:
1. Explain how extruded aluminum trim products can
be used to improve and enhance drywall surfaces.
2. Summarize the sustainable features and
performance characteristics of aluminum.
3. Discuss the various profile and finish options that
are available for aluminum interior trim products.
4. State the methods and considerations related to
the installation of aluminum trim products for
interior spaces.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AIA CREDIT: 1 LU/HSW

AIA COURSE NUMBER: AR092017-5

Use the learning objectives above to focus

your study as you read this article. To earn
credit and obtain a certificate of completion,
visit http://go.hw.net/AR092017-5 and complete
the quiz for free as you read this article. If you are
new to Hanley Wood University, create a free learner
account; returning users log in as usual.

USING EXTRUDED ALUMINUM TRIM A unique and diverse new line of extruded lines to bold 2-piece design features. The
PRODUCTS FOR INTERIOR APPLICATIONS aluminum trims was designed to enhance all growing and evolving collection includes simple
practical aspects of drywall construction and reveals, corner and base transitions that help to
The famous quote attributed to Mies van der
transform it into a design medium that can make create clean lines, shadow lines and reveals that
Rohe, “God is in the details,” continues to
it the feature, the focus and the most impactful make a space stand out.
haunt architects because details are where
element of a well-designed space. Extruded
architects can and do make a difference.
aluminum trims can be used to create the This collaboration recognized and addressed
With today’s focus on green materials,
appearance of fine metal craft that is integrated the struggle to complete projects with a
detailing needs to meet an architectural
with drywall and panelized surfaces at a fraction completely modern look without the expense of
design aesthetic, as well as durability and
of the cost of having custom metalwork custom metalwork. Utilizing interior aluminum
sustainability requirements, creating
designed, detailed and fabricated for a project. extrusions provides the ability to create
challenges for architects. Luckily, this is one
minimalistic shadow lines in any environment
instance where knowledge of detailing can
Working with a strong collaboration between or make beautiful feature walls using only trims
contribute to all of these prerequisites because
architects and experienced design professionals, and drywall. Previously these could only be
specifying extruded aluminum interior trim
an extensive line of interior aluminum achieved with costly metal craftsmen or in-field
products can fulfill aesthetic, durability and
extrusions was produced that creates a variety solutions using multiple configurations of other
sustainability requirements.
of visual statements from minimalist shadow building materials.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

• Create horizontal/vertical lines very smooth surface and is the best alloy suited
• Contribute to a modern aesthetic for anodizing applications. The T5 designation
indicates it has been artificially aged and
• Provide clean intersections of drywall moderately heat-treated.
• Supply protection and a finished edge for
vertical drywall or panel corners CHARACTERISTICS OF EXTRUDED
ALUMINUM
Aluminum is a durable and highly recyclable
material that has become a vital element in
today’s world, providing products that offer
strength and stability in a wide variety of
applications. Aluminum extrusion is used
for a wide range of purposes, ranging from
common items like foil, zippers, smart phones
and building materials, to wiring the nation’s
power grid and housing the International
Space Station. Since its development,
aluminum extrusion has become a viable and
Since the interior of a building has many intersecting materials, there adaptable solution for a growing number of
are numerous details to consider in the design process. manufacturing needs.

Using aluminum extrusions, it is now possible to Extruded aluminum has a long list of qualities
create simple reveals and transitions to improve Aluminum billets are pressed through a die to create extruded that make it a durable and economical choice as
and enhance drywall surfaces. Well beyond aluminum shapes or profiles. Following the extrusion process, a a building material. It is fire resistant and non-
variety of options are available to modify the color, texture and
that, aluminum extrusions offer new shapes combustible. Even at extremely high temperatures,
brightness of the aluminum’s finish.
and forms. For example, manufacturers have it does not produce toxic fumes. Aluminum
introduced the appearance of fine metal craft MANUFACTURING OF EXTRUDED does not rust because it is protected by its own
integrated with drywall and panelized surfaces. ALUMINUM naturally-occurring oxide film. It is this resilience
These are done at a much lower cost than that allows it to spring back from the shock of
having custom metalwork for a given project. Aluminum, the most abundant mineral in the impact depending on the temper applied.
earth’s crust, is derived from bauxite deposits
Why Use Extruded Aluminum Trim mined from the earth. Aluminum extrusion is a Additionally, aluminum poses no health risks
for Interiors? highly versatile metal-forming process that has or physical hazards. Aluminum trim products
a wide array of desirable physical characteristics. are defined as “articles” by the Occupational
While extruded aluminum trim has been an For example, aluminum is easily machined due Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and
option for exterior trim for some time, a new line to its malleability, yet it is one-third the density are therefore exempt from the requirement of
of extruded aluminum trims designed specifically and stiffness of steel. publishing material safety data sheets.
for interior use is on the market, extending the
possibilities for use in interior detail work. When After initial processing, a form called alumina Aluminum is relatively inexpensive and may
building professionals talk about details, they are undergoes smelting and alloying, producing not require long lead times, depending
referring to the way the parts and pieces of an solid billets of cast metal. These aluminum upon required paint or base finish type.
interior space come together: how they’re joined billets are pressed through a die to create Even short-run prototypes often can be
and how they intersect. extruded aluminum shapes or profiles. produced at moderate cost. Aluminum trims
Following the extrusion process, a variety can add a design aesthetic to a wide range
Since the interior of a building has many of options (e.g., anodizing and painting) of interior applications. Finally, it can be
intersecting materials, there are numerous are available to modify the color, texture easily manufactured to accepted standard
details to consider in the design process. Ideally, and brightness of the aluminum’s finish. dimensional tolerances.
they all support a single design language—an Quality aluminum trim products are precisely
aesthetic. In contemporary architecture, these manufactured under extreme tolerances to Aluminum is Sustainable and Recyclable
details can range from the sublimely simple to produce highly refined results without the need
the ornate, with equally wide-ranging costs. for master craft skilled labor. Aluminum is considered the sustainable
Trim, specifically, is used for a variety of reasons material of choice in many markets because
to finish the interior look of a given space to: Most extruded shapes for architectural use are of its significant environmental and economic
fabricated from 6063, an aluminum alloy with benefits. As a whole, aluminum is constructed
• Sculpt interior walls from 75 percent to 100 percent post-industrial
magnesium and silicon as the alloying elements.
• Separate wall materials Known as Type 6063-T5 aluminum, commonly and post-consumer scrap, making it an
• Provide architectural detail referred to as the architectural alloy, it has a excellent sustainable choice.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

What Products are Available? enhance drywall construction, while taking into
account the typical design and construction
Current product offerings on the market include
of commercial interiors, they provide more
simple reveals and transitions that enrich the
solutions to design aesthetics.
aesthetics of drywall surfaces. Manufacturers
have created shapes and forms that introduce
For example, in the design and construction
the appearance of fine metal craft integrated
of commercial interiors, 5/8-inch-thick drywall
with drywall and panelized surfaces at
on metal studs is still the high-value, low-cost
a fraction of the cost of having custom
workhorse for defining the perimeter of spaces,
Aluminum trims can add design aesthetic to a wide range of metalwork designed, detailed and fabricated
creating separation, and working as a very
interior applications. for a project.
flexible substrate for limitless embellishments.
In addition, aluminum is a strong, highly durable However, it doesn’t get much credit for this
While most products are meant to be used with
material that offers a long service life. Aluminum because it is seen as so simple, so common and
5/8" drywall or in some cases panels, custom
is lightweight, weighing about one-third of most so disposable. With the cost of construction
designs can be manufactured to accommodate
other metals, which makes it easier to handle and continuously rising, schedules shrinking and
a wide variety of other materials such as glass,
less expensive to transport. Due to its strength, field skill sets diminishing, designers and
tile, panels, etc., in other thicknesses.
aluminum prevents swelling and buckling. architects are constantly looking for ways to
create unique spaces that leverage budgets,
Depending on the application, trim products
For those organizations looking to build a space schedules and craftsmanship availability. In
may be made of a variety of materials including
that is resource efficient, aluminum can help short, to build spaces that produce the most
aluminum, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), wood
earn LEED® v4 certification as it adheres to the “bang for the buck.”
(baseboards) and rubber (corner guards).
following criteria:
To address the issue, extruded aluminum trim
• Energy and Atmosphere Credit: products were designed and manufactured
Optimize Energy to enhance the practical aspects of drywall
• Materials and Resources Credit: Building construction and transform it into a design
Product Disclosure and Optimization - medium that can make it the feature, the
Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) focus and the most impactful element of a
well-designed space. Quality aluminum trim
• Indoor Environmental Quality Credit: products are precisely manufactured under
Low-Emitting Materials extreme tolerances to produce highly refined
Aluminum is the only material in the consumer results without master craft skilled labor.
disposal stream that more than pays for the
cost of its own collection. Aluminum produced Aluminum trim profiles contribute to a modern aesthetic, provide Meeting all the demands of modern
in North America is more sustainable today than clean intersections of drywall, sculpt interior walls, create horizontal/ construction, aluminum interior trim products
vertical lines, separate wall materials and supply a finished edge for
ever before due to technological advances and vertical drywall or panel corners.
are sustainable, durable, lightweight and easy
voluntary environmental efforts. Since 1995, to use. Aluminum trim’s durability, sustainability
the amount of energy required to make new and long life is also easy to work with, and cost-
Advantages of Extruded Aluminum Trim
aluminum is down more than a quarter and the effective, while enhancing drywall construction.
industry’s carbon footprint has been reduced Aluminum trims are an excellent choice for These features allow for building spaces with
nearly 40 percent. interior trim because they can withstand greater clean lines and innovative designs. Aluminum
daily abuse than most materials as they are trims can be the feature, the focus and the
Aluminum is 100 percent recyclable, making stronger, maintain their shape better, and are most impactful element of a well-designed
the metal one of the most recyclable of all less vulnerable to damage than non-metal space.
materials. In fact, the impact of aluminum alternatives. Using aluminum as an option
recycling on the environment has been adds durability and longevity to construction, ALUMINUM INTERIOR TRIM PROFILE AND
profound. The production of recycled aluminum whereas PVC deteriorates over time, a trait that FINISH OPTIONS
saves more than 90 percent of the energy costs other trim materials simply cannot achieve at
Extruded aluminum trims are manufactured
associated with primary production. When the same level of detail and design.
in profiles 0.050 in thickness, which is thin
compared with primary production, recycled
Aluminum trims, when anodized or with a enough to be bent at a slight curve (when
aluminum production uses only 8 percent of
polished finish, are more aesthetically pleasing applying to studs during installation), yet thick
the energy while generating only 8 percent of
than other materials and provide the designer enough that it cannot be bent with ease.
the emissions. Additionally, aluminum can be
with a greater ability to match a finish with Profiles can be made stronger and thicker, as
recycled indefinitely without losing any of its
doors, windows, frames and other design needed for most applications. Additionally,
superior characteristics. An interesting fact:
elements. Additionally, extruded aluminum complex shapes can be realized in one-piece
approximately 75 percent of all aluminum ever
trims install straight and true. Since aluminum extruded aluminum sections without having
produced is still in use today.
trim products were designed specifically to to employ mechanical joining methods. The

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

resultant profile is typically stronger than a QUIZ

comparable assemblage and less likely to loosen
over time. 1. What percentage of aluminum is recyclable?
a. 75% b. 90%
c. 100%

2. Extruded aluminum bases are typically installed ___________.

a. vertically b. diagonally
c. horizontally

3. True or False: Square reveals are used to provide a structural function.

4. The production of recycled aluminum saves _____ of the energy costs associated with primary production.
a. > 90% b. 80-85%
c. < 85%

5. True or False: Powder coating is a dry finishing process that is extremely popular, representing at least 15% of the total
industrial finishing market.
The baseboard detail is one of the more prominent details to consider
in interior design as it serves to cover the joint between the finished
wall and floor. It also protects a highly trafficked area of an interior 6. True or False: When cutting aluminum trim, you should start at an outside corner.
space from wear and tear.
7. True or False: Extruded aluminum trims are manufactured in profiles of 0.010” in thickness.

Baseboard Detail Options

8. When installing aluminum trims, drywall tape should:
The baseboard detail is one of the more prominent a. not be used b. overlap the edge of the reveal
details to consider in interior design as it serves c. not overlap the edge of the reveal
to cover the joint between the finished wall and
floor. It also protects a highly trafficked area of 9. Since 1995, energy required to make new aluminum is down more than a quarter and the industry’s carbon footprint has
been reduced by_____.
an interior space from wear and tear. There are
a. 30% b. 40%
several options to consider for base details and
c. 50%
each has its place in every designer’s toolbox.
10. True or False: As a whole, aluminum is constructed from 75% to 100% post-industrial and post-consumer scrap.
Extruded aluminum bases are typically installed
horizontally and are available in a range of styles
to satisfy a variety of design requirements. A

ª
standard base detail is typically a 3 1/2-inch
This article continues on
profile installed on top of the drywall. In some http://go.hw.net/AR092017-5. Go online to
applications, a quarter round is used as a flooring read the rest of the article and complete
joint between the flooring itself and the baseboard the corresponding quiz for credit.
for aesthetic appeal. Some modernists have
questioned the utility of the traditional baseboard;
consequently, a number of contemporary options SPONSOR INFORMATION
have evolved that provide the design community
with more options.

No Baseboard Detail Options

One option is to eliminate the baseboard
completely which creates a simple, minimalistic
aesthetic. A baseless option reduces the
material, installation, and finishing costs Some modernists have questioned the utility of the traditional
of a conventional baseboard. However, baseboard; consequently, a number of contemporary options have
evolved that provide the design community with more options.
the downside is that the wall base is more For the past 10 years Tamlyn has delivered superior
susceptible to damage from foot traffic and error in the drywall finishing process. The joint quality, pricing and selection through XtremeTrim®,
equipment; therefore, it is generally used in between the wall and floor should be kept providing custom designs and colors for a variety
industrial or commercial applications where open with a 3/4-inch reveal (shadow line) to of exterior trim projects. As a division of Tamlyn,
there is minimal foot traffic and less risk XtremeInterior Architectural Solutions is excited to
allow the surfaces to move independently. This provide the newest product line available from a
of damage. Additionally, eliminating the is accomplished by separating the drywall from leader in the architectural supply industry.
baseboard requires taping of the lower edge the floor with a piece of Z-metal.
of the drywall and there is less tolerance for
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
 SMALL DETAILS. BIG IMPACT.

The possibilities are endless when you design with our extruded aluminum trim profiles.
Contact an XtremeInterior representative for more infomation at 844.365.9462 or visit our website at www.xtremeias.com
 THE NEXT CHAPTER IN INNOVATION IS COMING...

TO FORMAWALL® INSULATED METAL PANELS.

The latest evolution of Formawall insulated metal panels enables
you to push the envelope further and create a more
sustainable building environment.

See the next chapter in sustainable innovation

at ABX/Greenbuild 2017, booth 2277. REIMAGINE METAL
CENTRIAperformance.com/nextchapter
 September 2017 AIANow 79 AIAFeature 80 AIAPerspective 86

AIA Architect
AIAVoices
PHOTOGRAPHY: TODD WINTERS

For me, possessing information is the opposite nurtured everyone. For him, that was the mark
The Architectural of fetishizing an object. Architects have so
much information—we’re trained to think
of a moral society. Generations later, Adrian
Stokes understood this, and pointed to a
Imperative humanistically, to heed building codes, to
investigate materials, to draw on psychology,
psychological imperative: The design process
should be judged both by the products we
Value is created, not assigned. and to solve organizational problems. But make as well as what those products offer the
we suppress this information when we talk creator. How you look, how you carve, how
Peggy Deamer is a professor of architecture to clients or the media because we think that you draw, how you talk—those psychological
at Yale University, the principal of Brooklyn, all they care about is the final product: the aspects are part of a bigger picture of cultural
N.Y.–based Peggy Deamer, Architect, and co- building itself. production. And the connection between
founder of the Architecture Lobby, a nonprofit Architects wrongly assume that their what we do as architects and how we design
dedicated to raising awareness of architects, creative-design expertise will be recognized is much closer than anyone is talking about in
their individual rights as workers, and their by the world, and that expertise alone will popular discourse.
collective value to society. Her work—which make those who are at the top stay at the top. In writing about Venetian buildings,
draws on architecture critics Adrian Stokes On the other hand, architects rightly assume Stokes looked for evidence that the carver or
and John Ruskin, psychoanalyst Melanie that their contribution to the public realm the designer struggled with the materials—
Klein, architect and writer Manfredo Tafuri, is a real one. We are doing much more than shaping the stone itself, how the stone casts
and sociologist Richard Sennett—centers on decoration or making beautiful environments. shadows, how the stone invites pigeons
defining the architect’s intellectual and creative We offer benefits and opportunities to to roost. What he uncovered was not the
ownership in a 21st-century cultural climate. improve people’s lives—and it’s a good architect’s unbending will to shape forms—
“Change,” says Deamer, “begins with a sense aspiration that most of us hold. which is part of the popular myth of the lone
of agency.” We have to start with John Ruskin, and genius. Instead, he uncovered evidence of the
his respect for the connection between the struggle between the maker and what’s been
As told to William Richards architect’s design and the builder’s efforts, made. And for me, the “maker” is a really
which was about a holistic process that important part of the architect’s value. AIA
77
A vibrant community
AIA is a vibrant community of architecture and industry professionals that are
transforming our profession. Members enjoy access to industry-best benefits,
products and services that support practice and professional development.

Visit aia.org/join to learn more about how you can leverage all that
we have to offer and become a member.

Join today and receive free registration to A’18, the AIA Conference
on Architecture in New York City, June 21-23, 2018.*

*Visit aia.org/join for terms and conditions.

 AIA NOW SEPTEMBER 2017 AIA Architect

AIANow
By Steve Cimino
Art Direction by Jelena Schulz

We the Public
On Sept. 16, the second Chicago Architecture Biennial
will open to entice the public at large to “Make New
History” by considering projects that tie our shared built
heritage to architectural production today. Considering
that a lot of big decisions about zoning, civic projects,
and public-private ventures are made in the name of the
public interest, we asked five exhibitors to define what the
“public” really means.

“The public is a group of people who gather around a set of

common values. I think that, for architects, designing a built
environment that supports the production of these shared
values—which can be cultural, epistemic, or performative—is
pursuing public interest.” —Michelle Chang, assistant
professor, Rice School of Architecture

“We think of the public as an active participant in design, but

not in the usual ‘design by committee’ process. Instead, we
approach buildings as part of a dialogue with the public that
encourages people to construct narratives about place and
culture through form and experience. The public animates a
building both with moving bodies and with their imagination.”
—Stewart Hicks, co-founder, Design With Company

“I am interested in the idea of the civic, which is grounded

in civitas, the laws that bound citizens together in ancient
Rome, articulating their rights and responsibilities. These
relations between the one and the many actually form the
foundation for any possibility of the res publica. Therefore,
I am interested in civic space as the physical reflection of
collective relations, whether established by law, custom, or
tradition.”
—Marshall Brown, principal, Marshall Brown Projects

“Like a practical joke, architecture is best when everyone is in

on it.” —Carrie Norman, AIA, and Thomas Kelley, founders,
Norman Kelley

“How we behave towards buildings says more than words

about our collective interest in them, and people behave
differently towards monuments than they do towards any
ILLUSTRATION: LAUREN NASSEF

other public building type. Consider the fact that people

are willing to put themselves in harm’s way to protect
monuments, as if such buildings were vitally essential to
them. Monuments are a wellspring of lessons for architects
who care for the public interest.” —Jorge Otero-Pailos, AIA,
professor and director of historic preservation, Columbia
University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and
Preservation
79
 AIA Architect SEPTEMBER 2017 AIA FEATURE

AIAFeature

A Tale of Two Cities

Seattle and Taipei, an ocean apart, both offer innovative solutions to geographical challenges.

By Kim O’Connell

PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES

AIA Seattle boasts 2,300 members and sells out nearly 80 programs, exhibits, and installations during its annual two-week-long design festival, held this month. Learn more at aiaseattle.org.
80
AIA FEATURE SEPTEMBER 2017 AIA Architect

The Pacific Rim, made up of nearly 50 countries on four continents,

boasts striking and often volatile physical landscapes. Coastal
mountain ranges, jagged in profile and part of the volcanic Ring of
Fire, are juxtaposed against coral atolls mere feet above sea level—all
largely prone to earthquakes and tsunamis. Vibrant and economically
important cities dot the Pacific Rim—the thrum of their central
business districts and ports can be felt even while strolling through
busy historic cores and dozens of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

It is a dramatic cultural landscape, to Seattle’s Best The new area could possibly make way for
be sure, but also an incredibly delicate set more affordable housing and parkland, and
of ecosystems that are interdependent and With its mild northern climate and it may be more economically feasible for the
ground zero for the impact of sea level rise. abundant natural beauty, Seattle has long city to “lid” the highway than to acquire an
Despite this precarious situation (and, in fact, attracted entrepreneurs and innovators, equivalent amount of land elsewhere.
because of it) some Pacific Rim cities—such as and is headquarters to such powerhouse AIA Seattle was involved in supporting
Seattle and Taipei—have been ground zero for companies as Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, dramatic changes to the central waterfront,
innovative design solutions. Weyerhaeuser, and Amazon. Whether you are which include a recent $400 million project
Despite being an ocean apart, Taipei and an expert barista or an aerospace engineer, to reconstruct the city’s seawall that also
Seattle have geographic similarities. They are it’s an appealing place to live and work, as proved to be innovative, Richmond says.
both inland ports that are nonetheless deeply evidenced by the city’s expanding population. Instead of an ordinary utilitarian concrete
connected, culturally and practically, with the (Seattle was the country’s fastest-growing wall, the new seawall combines ecological
ocean. One of the jewels of America’s Pacific large city in 2016, according to the U.S. Census design and public art. Among other elements,
Northwest, Seattle is situated on Puget Sound Bureau.) This level of engagement and activity the seawall is designed to encourage the
and boasts a population of about 700,000 seems to be mirrored by the architecture growth of microalgae that create habitat for
(ballooning to 3.8 million when you include profession. the region’s native salmon populations. As
the surrounding metropolitan area). The As one measure of architecture’s seas rise because of climate change, seawall
capital of the mountainous island nation of prominence, AIA Seattle boasts 2,300 construction will become more critical for
Taiwan, Taipei is a city of 2.7 million that sits members and sells out nearly 80 programs, coastal cities, and Seattle’s ecologically
on the Tamsui River. exhibits, and installations during its annual minded approach could serve as a model.
In addition to being oriented toward the two-week design festival (held in September, “There seems to be a huge appetite
water, Seattle and Taipei are both surrounded this year’s theme is “Power”), according for thinking about design and designing
by mountains. Seattle is ringed by the Olympic to Lisa Richmond, the chapter’s executive the future of our city,” Richmond says. “I
Range and the Cascade Mountains, which director. She says that more than ever before think a reason that people move here is the
include nearby protected areas such as the the chapter is advocating for sustainable natural situation and the access to nature.
Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks. innovation on a citywide scale. There’s been a long-standing respect for the
Taipei is just to the south of Yangmingshan Another unique project currently being environment, and that’s reflected in a very
National Park, famous for Qixing (Seven Star) discussed involves building a cap over forward-thinking commitment to high-
Mountain, like Mount Rainier a dormant Interstate 5, which cuts through the heart of performing buildings, density, mobility, and
volcano. the city, to create more downtown acreage. livability.”
81
 AIA Architect SEPTEMBER 2017 AIA FEATURE

AIAFeature
CONTINUED

PHOTO: © LARA SWIMMER. COURTESY SUSAN JONES, ATELIERJONES LLC

The CLTHouse in Seattle, by atelierjones, is one of several projects featured in the National Building Museum’s exhibition “Timber City,” which
ends its yearlong run this month.

This sentiment is echoed by Jim Cutler, National Building Museum in Washington,

FAIA, a principal of Cutler Anderson D.C., as part of its “Timber City” exhibition,
Architects, a firm based on Bainbridge Island and principal Susan Jones, FAIA, is the AIA
across Puget Sound from downtown Seattle. National representative to the International
“In Seattle, you have a pretty intact ecosystem Code Council’s Committee on Tall Wood
on the perimeter, and consequently there is Buildings. “We all recognize here that the
a combination of that powerful beauty, the natural environment is limited and finite and
national parks, and the city’s surprisingly majestic and needs to be protected,” Jones
Scandinavian heritage, which has a deep says. “We’ve been trying to do that work with
appreciation for the built environment,” cross-laminated timber, to make sure our
Cutler says. “If there’s an AIA Seattle event, forests are sustainable and well-managed, and
you can get 1,000 to 1,200 people showing up also provide for vibrant, innovative, and low-
for it. If you look at the number of architecture carbon buildings in urban environments.”
firms in the Seattle phone book, you’ll find Jones says that Seattle architects have also
more than you have in the city of Philadelphia, been forward-thinking about prefabricated
which is five times the size.”
This cultural respect for efficient
design and the land has resulted in some
groundbreaking design initiatives and

PHOTO: © LARA SWIMMER. COURTESY SUSAN JONES, ATELIERJONES LLC

projects. Take timber: The logging and timber
In Seattle, you have a industry has long fueled the economy of the
Pacific Northwest, but this industry has been
pretty intact ecosystem criticized for its environmental impacts.
Now Seattle design firms are promoting the
on the perimeter, and use of cross-laminated timber (CLT), an
engineered wood product that can replace
consequently there is steel and be used in high-rise buildings, yet
still has a smaller carbon footprint than steel
a combination of that or concrete. What’s particularly beneficial
is that even so-called “junk trees”—the kind
powerful beauty, the that usually aren’t worth much in traditional
timber markets—can be harvested and used
national parks, and in CLT, reducing the fuel load in a forest
while helping to create a sustainable building
the city’s surprisingly material.
The Seattle architectural firm atelierjones
Scandinavian heritage. is one leader in promoting research and Atelierjones’ research led them to develop CLTHouse’s NOVATOP,
testing of CLT applications. Its design for a panelized building system that can be reproduced utilizing cross-
—Jim Cutler, FAIA a CLT house was recently on display at the laminated timber.
82
 AIA FEATURE SEPTEMBER 2017 AIA Architect
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES (RIGHT). COURTESY B+P ARCHITECTS (BELOW)

Taipei’s skyline might be dominated by Taipei 101, designed by C.Y. Lee & Partners (completed in 2004), but the experience of living and working
modular construction, something directly in the Taiwanese capital is about discovering innovative solutions to density.
inspired by the city’s shipping industry,
which moves containers in and out of the buildings are smart, stylish, and built to last.” he says. Cutler describes visiting one project
port constantly. She points to a forthcoming In applying for the recognition, city officials on a steep hillside on which the builders had
56-unit prefabricated modular multifamily vowed that they would use the opportunity to created terraces with retaining walls as high
building called Inhabit Burwell that incorporate more design-oriented thinking as 40 feet, with style taking supremacy over
atelierjones is designing for the OneBuild into city-government activities and to better sustainability.
company in the Seattle suburb of Bremerton, celebrate Taiwan’s particular culture through This ethic seems to be changing, however.
Wash., which could be revolutionary for design. Taipei’s signature landmark is the 1,666-foot
affordable and efficient workforce housing. For Jim Cutler, who has worked around Taipei 101 building, which was completed in
“You can live there in a smallish unit, and then the world, the traditional building culture in 2004 and was briefly the tallest building in the
walk five minutes and take a fast ferry across Taipei is one in which landscape constraints world. Despite quickly losing that distinction
the sound to downtown, then go to work at are something to be overcome versus revealed to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the bamboo-shaped
your office or your Starbucks café,” she says. through architecture. “In Seattle, physical tower designed by C. Y. Lee & Partners is still
“Our firm is experimenting with different circumstances are seen as opportunities; but recognized as one of the world’s tallest green
models of living and working and innovating in Taipei—from what I saw—they seemed to buildings, having earned LEED Platinum
in construction.” be more challenges versus opportunities,” status. In its bid to win the WDC designation,

Type A Taipei

Similar innovation is happening in Taipei. In

2016, the Taiwanese capital was named the
World Design Capital (WDC), a designation
conferred on a city every two years since 2008
by the World Design Organization (formerly
the International Council of Societies of
Industrial Design) to “showcase effective
design-led revitalization strategies and
projects that other cities can benefit from.”
This is a high honor for a city whose mid-
20th-century architecture is called “shabby,”
“unattractive,” and “slapdash” in The Rough
Guide to Taiwan, the result of a building
boom in the mid-20th century when the
city took in nearly a million Chinese people
from the mainland. The same travel guide Taipei-based B+P Architects’ recent design for a shipping-container art annex in New Taipei City is a nod to the city’s multiphase port expansion
acknowledges, however, that “Taipei’s newest that began in 1993.
83
 AIA Architect SEPTEMBER 2017 AIA FEATURE

AIAFeature
CONTINUED

Taipei officials touted a series of other recent

sustainable projects, such as the green-
roofed Beitou Library, the first building to
earn diamond status under Taipei’s EEWH
(ecology, energy saving, waste reduction,
health) green-building certification system.
EEWH was only the second third-party
certification system in the world after LEED.
For a region prone to earthquakes and
tsunamis, Taipei has also been forward-
thinking in its plans for protection against
seismic forces. As recently as February, a
magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook the city
and other parts of Taiwan but caused no

PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY B+P ARCHITECTS (THIS PAGE)

casualties, whereas a 1999 island-wide,
magnitude 7.6 earthquake left 2,415 people
dead. Taipei 101 is built to be flexible
enough to withstand some movement in an
earthquake or high winds; in fact, it contains
a 728-ton pendulum within its structure—a
dangling yellow globe called a “tuned mass
damper”—that acts as a counterbalance if the
building sways too far in any one direction.
(Visitors can see the damper up close for a fee
and an elevator ride to the 88th floor.)
Another more recent project is Taipei-
based Kris Yao|Artech’s design for the
50-story, 700-foot-tall Far Eastern Group’s Taipei-based B+P Architects’ recent design for a shipping container art annex in New Taipei City is a nod to the city’s multiphase port expansion
Mega Tower in New Taipei City (part of the that began in 1993.
capital’s large metro area). This building
optimizes seismic performance through a Taipei City that is covered in mirrors. The against its environment.” While the fate of
tube-in-tube structure, with bracings attached project, according to a description from the this conurbation is unclear, Taipei’s growth
to the inner tube system to help absorb lateral architects, allows the building to become (matched only by Hong Kong and Shanghai)
loads—a clear recognition of Taiwan’s unique a “delicate reflection of its surrounding shows no signs of abating.
geography and vulnerabilities. environment (or perhaps you can also say Plans are now in the works for a massive,
Perhaps there is a metaphor to be found this is a form of extension) and enables this multiyear, multibillion-dollar infrastructure
in Taipei-based B+P Architects’ recent design artificial construction to escape from the improvement project in Taiwan that would
for a shipping container art annex in New fate resulting in vicious fighting for space focus on green energy, urban-rural projects,
and sustainable transportation systems. AIA
Seattle’s Richmond is interested in watching
how Taipei develops for two primary reasons.
For one, the chapter is considering applying
to become a World Design Capital. Richmond
adds that Taiwan’s ingrained bicycle culture
is also of interest to Seattleites, as the city
continues to build up its bike infrastructure
through things like new bike lanes and to
promote low-emission transit options in an
increasingly congested city.
Going forward, cities like Seattle and
Taipei could be widely influential in terms
of how they handle geographic constraints,
increasing populations, and the impacts of
climate change. “In Seattle, with companies
like Boeing and Amazon and Microsoft, we
have world leaders that are changing the way
we fly, shop, and do business,” Susan Jones
says. “So we realize it’s within our realm to
The repurposed shipping containers also provide a respite from the humid, subtropical climate of Taipei. also change the way we build buildings.” AIA
84
The leadership event of the year
is coming to a venue near you!

AIA Leadership Institute 2017

Detroit, MI | Bentonville, AR | New Orleans, LA | Pasadena, CA | Washington, DC
November 16

Register today at aialeadershipinstitute.com

 AIA Architect SEPTEMBER 2017 AIA PERSPECTIVE

AIAPerspective

PHOTOGRAPHY: CARL BOWER

its wealthiest established markets. Dozens Architects will almost certainly feel the
World Company of countries have joined the “One Belt, One
Road” initiative in some way. China says it
impact as U.S. engagement wanes in Pacific
Rim markets. China may have been reluctant
Inc. has already spent $1 trillion, and promises to
spend much more.
to retain American firms for expansion
projects, but—as an interloper to what would
The “One Belt, One Road” initiative takes China’s President Xi Jinping signaled his have been the largest global trade deal in
the lead in global infrastructure. ambitions upon taking office in 2013. The history—it would have faced some pressure
plans have taken form over the past four years, to involve firms from other countries in these
While our national government retreats from drawing added momentum from a perceived huge projects and their many needed ancillary
international trade and climate accords, all in U.S. retreat. Some analysts say China’s aims buildings. Now there is little incentive to share.
the name of putting “America First,” a main are “imperialist,” a thinly veiled effort to Programs similar to “One Belt, One
global rival is using a giant infrastructure and counter Western military influence, but none Road” are afoot in Africa and South America,
building program to forge ahead. doubt their potential to cement a central where China is building power plants, dams,
Invoking its rich history along the Silk position in global trade. housing, and factories—mostly employing its
Road, China is now funding and building The “One Belt, One Road” formula is own nationals and state-owned companies.
21st-century roads, rail lines, ports, airports, straightforward and twofold: Expand foreign Such investments will pay lasting dividends, as
factories, power plants, and telecom facilities markets to employ Chinese nationals and sell host countries turn to China for maintenance,
in dozens of countries. On land and at sea, products that domestic markets alone will not repairs, and upgrades. China is also investing
China is using infrastructure projects to consume; and dominate world infrastructure heavily in renewable energy systems, and
gain strong footholds and exercise profound design and construction markets, focused on leads global solar panel manufacturing.
influence on trade and foreign policy. strategic locations that facilitate trade and Couldn’t U.S. infrastructure policies seek
“One Belt, One Road” is a development improve military position. to export our know-how and technology?
program encompassing land routes from The now-abandoned Trans-Pacific Couldn’t we move along our natural trade
western China through Central Asia to the Partnership (TPP) may have offered a Western routes—essentially south to Mexico and
Middle East and Europe. Sea routes run from alternative to China’s plan. Designed mostly north to Canada by road and by rail, but
southern China across the Indian Ocean and to enhance U.S. influence in East Asia, the nearly everywhere by sea and by air? Couldn’t
into the Mediterranean Sea. Maritime projects TPP would have created a free-trade pact excellent buildings form an element of our
include not just new ports, but also ships and for nearly half of the world’s economic efforts to promote trade and influence? Do we
cargo facilities. production while applying Western labor really want to cede the international market
Propelled by modern infrastructure, trade and environmental norms. But in early 2017, space by default? AIA
in this vast region could reach staggering new the U.S. administration canceled the pact,
dimensions. The trade paths touch the world’s claiming that it hurt U.S. business and labor. Thomas Vonier, FAIA
most vibrant emerging markets and many of China has picked up the slack. 2017 AIA President
86
Instant ambience.
Pure magnetism.

Cynch, the attractive, versatile LED light,

transforms the ambience of any venue.

With one pull on its magnetic connection,

Cynch easily switches from accent to pendant
and back again. The elegantly compact light
is offered in flush or semi-recessed single
or multiple configurations.

For more information,

visit amerlux.com/cynch.

Follow us on Twitter @AmerluxLighting.

Cynch Mounting Options

Single Multiple
Round or Semi-recessed
Square or Flush
Every Dri-Design panel is carefully manufactured – created without ACM, MCM, or any composite materials. Each Dri-Design product is a single-skin, non-combustible metal panel.

INSPIRED.
EXPRESSIVE.
EXTERIORS.
Dri-Design Metal Wall Panels with new Aluvium
finish express not only a new look, but also a new
feel. This advanced paint technique imparts a
distinctive texture during the finishing process,
which has both a unique tactile expression, as
well as a visually matte appearance. Available
in a nearly endless color palette, this paint still
achieves the highest levels of performance in an
exterior environment.

• No sealants, gaskets or butyl tape means no

streaking and no maintenance for owners.
• Not laminated or a composite material, so panels
will never delaminate.
• At Dri-Design, we have a strict policy of recycling
and creating products that the world can live with.
• Fully tested to exceed ASTM standards and the
latest AAMA 508-07.
• Available in a variety of materials and colors.

616.355.2970 | DRI-DESIGN. COM

DMACC Culinary Institute

Shive-Hattery Architecture
 I VY L E AG U E A D M I S S I O N

Like students at Ivy League universities,

Ellison commercial entry doors are the best in their class.
That’s why they’re installed on campus buildings at
America’s top institutions of higher learning.

Custom designed. Precision hand-crafted.

Leverett House’s McKinlock Hall,
Near effortless operation.
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Unequaled longevity. Very smart.

CUSTOM CRAFTED BALANCED DOORS

e lli s o n b r o n ze .c o m

M a d e i n t h e U. S. A. s i n ce 1 914
 Sundara Dri Double Basin in White paired with
the Nachi Series™ Sensor Faucet and Soap Dispenser

T H E SU N DA R A ™ H A NDWAS HING SYSTE M

Behold the Balance of Brawn, Brains & Beauty

Influenced by architects and crafted by audacious industrial

designers, we’ve unified seamless countertops, basins, faucets,
and soap dispensers for a modern concept that elevates
the restroom experience. And with Zurn One, a system that
streamlines the restroom ecosystem through a single-source
manufacturer, we’ve reduced installation time, increased
effectiveness, while maintaining reliability.

Learn more at zurn.com/sundara

 91

“At no time since the

crumbling of the
modern movement
a half-century ago …
have the changes to
architectural education
come so quickly and
unpredictably.”

The Future of Architecture Education by Christopher Hawthorne

92

At the beginning of the year, I began writing a weekly

column in the Sunday arts section of the Los Angeles K. Michael Hays
Times, where I’ve been the architecture critic since teaching his online
2004. I started the column, called Building Type, in GSD course
part because I wanted to cover more critical territory;
at the end of a typical year there is always at least a
small handful of significant buildings, exhibitions, and
books that I feel guilty about having left uncovered.
The world that architecture touches on is huge, and in
some basic way I wanted to visit more of it.
I also figured that at some point, once I’d
published enough columns, I’d be able to look William & Mary but gained his architectural knowledge
back and see certain themes emerging as if on their through his library and sharpened his appreciation
own—that the columns, in the aggregate, might be an for Neoclassicism while he serving as ambassador to
effective instrument to detect or measure changes in France. For his generation and many that followed,
the profession. After eight months and more than 30 architecture was something that you learned less in
columns, this has turned out to be the case. And the school than in life. These days you might say the
idea that has presented itself more strongly than any opposite is true: architecture students now front-load
other—and there hasn’t been a close second—is that the technical and digital parts of their educations
architectural education in this country is at the moment and pick up the practical and especially the political
in radical flux. experience after they leave school. They also, like many
About a half-dozen of my columns have touched college students these days, define themselves at least
on this idea in one way or another. I’ve interviewed a in part as consumers. They know exactly how much
number of architecture deans. I wrote about a memoir they (or their parents) are paying for their architectural
on race and the Ivy League. And—sort of the way training. They are accustomed to assigning stars to
George Plimpton once suited up for preseason camp their Uber drivers and complaining about slow service
with the Detroit Lions, except in my case relying on at the Thai place on Yelp. They treat architecture
an iPad instead of shoulder pads—I enrolled in a school the same way.
pair of online architecture courses, one offered by the “There are times when I wish there were a little
Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and the more activism,” Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter, AIA, the
other, starring Frank Gehry, FAIA, by the sleek online ambitious and energetic new architecture dean at
platform MasterClass. Woodbury University in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley,
What I learned in the writing of those columns told me over the summer. “And yet I have also realized
is that the combination of new technology, changing that students today, they’re raising families, and

alex auriema; harvardx/harvard graduate school of design

demographics, and shifting philosophical priorities is they’re supporting their parents, or they’re far from
fundamentally reshaping architectural education. (I’ve home and coming from places of conflict. They’re here
also been watching the emergence of a new tuition- very specifically seeking a professional degree, and
free architecture school in Los Angeles.) The field is they’re very focused on that.” This is particularly true
democratizing itself and having an identity crisis at at Woodbury, where many students (reflecting the L.A.
the same time. In fact, at no time since the crumbling population as a whole) are the children of immigrants.
of the modern movement a half-century ago, an Woodbury is also one of a growing handful of
upheaval that happened to coincide with the rise of the universities that have signed on to a program to
counterculture and protests against the Vietnam War, integrate the licensing process with architectural
have the changes to architectural education come so education, which Wahlroos-Ritter sees as part of the
quickly and unpredictably. school’s ethical responsibility to help students keep
their debt low and make them as employable as soon as
The Absence of Activism possible: “The idea is that if they complete the program
What does it mean to be an American architecture they can get licensed upon graduation, which makes
student? For a not-insubstantial portion of the them that much more marketable.”
country’s history, the answer to that question was Her own experience as an architecture student at
connected in some basic way with amateurism, with the University of California, Los Angeles, she said, had
the acquisition of knowledge in a haphazard or at been very different—more actively political. But at
least an idiosyncratic way. Thomas Jefferson studied at Woodbury, where a full 80 percent of students receive
 ,N[J^TZWGJXYNIJFX
YMJąSNXMNSLYTZHM

DUROPAL Gives You the Design Edge

<MJS^TZWIJXNLSXXYFSITZYXTITJX^TZWąWR<NYM
DUROPALFSJ\QNSJTK-51QFRNSFYJXKWTRI 3 Surfaces,
FWYFSIXHNJSHJHTRJYTLJYMJWYTLN[J^TZ[NWYZFQQ^ZSQNRNYJI
IJXNLSUTXXNGNQNYNJX9MJXJMNLMQ^IZWFGQJFSIZSNVZJąSNXMJX
FWJJSLNSJJWJIYTMJQU^TZHWJFYJFHTRUJYNYN[JJILJKTW
^TZWąWR\NYMIJXNLSXYMFYITSèYOZXYRJJYJ]UJHYFYNTSX
GZYJ]HJJIYMJR

DUROPAL‘s IJHTWFYN[JQFRNSFYJHTQQJHYNTSFSI DUROPAL helps you realize

INKKJWJSYąSNXMJXF[FNQFGQJUWT[NIJXZSQNRNYJIHTQTWFSI your best design concepts
YJ]YZWJHTRGNSFYNTSXYTHZXYTRN_J^TZWIJXNLSX
and inspire new ones.
DUROPAL RNHWT51:8®FSYNGFHYJWNFQQFRNSFYJXIJQN[JWX
JFX^YTHQJFSM^LNJSNHXZWKFHJX\MJWJ^TZSJJIYMJRRTXY

DUROPAL =97*2*2&99® is ideal for high usage solutions with

NYXąSLJWUWNSYUWTTKXZWKFHJX

To get free DUROPAL samples and downloads,

visit www.I3Surfaces.com or call 888-975-7483.
 Hanover® Porcelain Pavers 94

some kind of aid, the concerns are decidedly pragmatic.

“My generation, it was apartheid. It was UC [schools]
have to divest from oil. These students are facing very
real problems in their own lives.”
That level of pragmatism can be a good thing: After
all, architecture is nothing if not a pragmatic discipline.
But at many leading schools, the detachment from the
political has been less about the pressing needs of the
outside world and more about a pedagogical focus on
Porcelain Pavers
HP1001 insularity, on treating architecture school as a protected
12” x 48” (30cm x 120cm) place with its own customs, language, and protocols.
That approach, dominant for a generation at many
of these schools, might be fading fast now that a new
generation of leadership is taking over, but it continues
to color the way that many architecture students are
introduced to the field.

Porcelain Pavers Online with Hays and Gehry

HP2003 A case in point is “The Architectural Imagination,” a
24” x 48” (60cm x 120cm) free course developed largely by K. Michael Hays,
a longtime professor of theory at the GSD, that
represents the school’s first foray into online education.
In the first couple of “modules,” to borrow the
language of the course, Hays was clearly making an
effort to be accessible; his introduction to architecture
theory was clear and lucid, and he showed some real
Porcelain Pavers charisma in front of the camera. But over time, the
HP1001 & HP1003 old Hays began slowly to re-emerge: he slipped back
12” x 48” (30cm x 120cm) into old habits, into jargon and opaque, if not twisted,
logic. And from the beginning a certain insularity was
wrapped into the syllabus: Much of the reading was by
Hays himself, a figure who—to put it politely—is not
known for his riveting prose.
After I wrote a column pointing out what I saw as
the flaws of the Hays approach—the way, primarily, it
promised a new kind of GSD, rebuilt for the digital
age, but instead delivered more of the same—the
Porcelain Pavers professor responded energetically. A few days later,
HP101 in an interview with the website Archinect, he had
24” x 24” (60cm x 60cm)
this to say about “the vexed notion of architecture’s
autonomy”: “Critics have completely misconstrued
the argument. The autonomy thesis asks the question:
Does architecture engage society, and if so, does it
simply reflect its technological and social determinants
or does it contradict, distort, resist, compensate, or in
some way reconstruct those determinants? The premise
Porcelain Pavers of this course is that architecture is deeply embedded
HP2001 in history and society, but it represents social values in
24” x 24” (60cm x 60cm) its own architectural way.”
Porcelain Pavers are stocked in a range An entirely different approach, meanwhile, has
of colors and sizes. Please call a Hanover® shaped Gehry’s offering for MasterClass. The course—
representative for more information. “Frank Gehry Teaches Architecture and Design”—costs
$90 (for a promised total of 17 sessions, only five of

www.hanoverpavers.com • 800.426.4242
Architectural Garden & Granite Porcelain
Pavers Landscape Walls Pavers Pavers
 viega.us/About-us
© Photo: Allianz Arena München Stadion GmbH

MODERN ARCHITECT-
URE FOR THE MOST
IMPORTANT 90 MINUTES
OF THE WEEK
And a piping system that performs at
the highest level every day

At the center of the Munich football world there are 26,000 feet of Sanpress making sure there’s always
plenty of drinking water available. The stainless-steel piping system ensures more than just optimal water
flow and hygienic solutions, it also shines with reliable longevity and its economic installation.
Viega. Connected in quality.

Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany

 It’s not what you think it is.

,W·VOLJKWZHLJKW
HQHUJ\HIÀFLHQW
VSHHG\WRDSSO\
DQGLQVWDOOVRYHUMXVWDERXWDQ\VXEVWUDWH
,W·VQRWEULFN
,W·V1HZ%ULFN

6HHWKHEHQHÀWVRI1HZ%ULFNDQGGLVFRYHUDOOWKHZD\V
LWFDQWUDQVIRUP\RXUQH[WSURMHFWDW'U\YLWFRP1HZ%ULFNRUFDOOXVDW
1(:%5,.
 Customer Satisfaction Made Easy

Our CableRail stainless steel cables are a great choice for your
customers who are looking for a view-friendly railing infill
option that’s attractive, durable, and ultra-low
maintenance. Services such as shop drawings
and engineering reports combined with our
packaged cable assemblies and automatic-
locking Quick-Connect® fittings will make
design, preparation, and installation
a breeze.

Free catalog and

dealer locations
1-800-888-2418
or visit
Photo courtesy of Decks by Kiefer

www.feeney15.com
 99

IC/Air3
: designed by Guto Indio da Costa
modernfan.com

Optional LED Lighting

|
Solid Color, Surface-printed Wood Grain or Clear Blades
Sharon E. Sutton discussing her book When Ivory Towers Were Black

buildings but civic life. He also said that bringing

diversity to the ranks of architecture students has
to do with more than just race; he said he wants to
encourage a range of “students who may not have
considered architecture. It’s more than identifying
talent. It’s about cultivating potential. We have to
provide the pathway for those students—not only
underrepresented minorities but lower-income
students, students from rural areas.” I can’t tell
courtesy columbia university graduate school of architecture, planning and preservation

you how much of a shift Curry represents—even in

simply rhetorical terms—at USC. For a full decade,
under his predecessor Qingyun Ma, the words
“diversity,” “engagement,” and “citizenship” were

|
barely uttered; the focus instead was on a global

Nickel, White or Dark Bronze Finish

perspective (Ma’s firm is based in Shanghai) and
helping students polish their digital skills.
Architectural education is a pendulum, and
longtime observers of the field will see in the new
interest in political engagement clear reminders
of the tumult of the late 1960s. In that sense,
When Ivory Towers Were Black: A Story about Race in
America’s Cities and Universities (Oxford University
Press, 2017), by Sharon E. Sutton, FAIA, professor
emerita at the University of Washington, is
compelling both as a memoir of distant battles
and a primer for the contemporary moment.
Sutton writes about how intense student protests
at Columbia University helped pave the way

|
for a successful—if sadly short-lived—effort to

2 or 3 Blades
diversify the student body in architecture and
planning. Sutton enrolled at Columbia in 1968, the
same year civil rights leader Whitney Young, the
executive director of the National Urban League,
gave a fire-breathing keynote address at the AIA
Convention arguing that architects couldn’t
|

sidestep at least some “responsibility for the mess

Ultra-efficient DC Motor

we are in in terms of the white noose around the

central city.” Her book at its heart is the chronicle
of a campaign at Columbia, funded by the Ford
100

Foundation, to boost the number of students of color. Cooper Union had maintaining its tuition-free status,
That campaign made huge progress—the number of though by comparison the FSA’s offerings are skeletal; it
nonwhite students increased eightfold between 1968 won’t grant degrees. The FSA launched over the summer
and 1971, from 2 percent of the total to 16 percent— in the Arts District, on the edge of downtown, with
but couldn’t sustain itself. A change in Columbia what the school described as “32 post-graduate students
leadership and a financial crisis in New York short- and a faculty of 22.” The freewheeling approach recalls
circuited the effort. The number of graduates of color the beginnings of SCI-Arc, which was founded in 1972
from Columbia’s architecture school peaked in 1973 in Santa Monica by a group—including Ray Kappe,
and then, depressingly, slid back essentially to where FAIA, and a young Thom Mayne, FAIA—splintering off
it had been a decade earlier. Still, Sutton recalls the from the architecture department at California State
era “as a magical, intoxicating time”—particularly the Polytechnic University in nearby Pomona. Whether the
degree to which architecture school was in those years FSA will have the staying power of SCI-Arc remains
as politically charged as the rest of American life. to be seen. By late summer, the school’s website had
I wonder how the students at the upstart Free gone largely dormant. Its main sections were empty of
School of Architecture (FSA) will look back at their content and there were no announcements, at least that
education. Established this year in Los Angeles and I could find, about future sessions.
directed by Peter Zellner, who taught for several years It’s entirely possible that the lull at the FSA
at the Southern California Institute of Architecture will turn out to be temporary. Still, it’s a reminder,
(SCI-Arc), the FSA is dedicated, as its website puts like Sutton’s book, that the democratization of the
it, to exploring “the edges of architectural education.” profession, whatever’s driving it from year to year,
Its founders appear unfazed by the difficulty that the comes in fits and starts.

Flip-Top Power Grommet

PCS87
The Podcast
> bit.ly/ArchitectChats

Compact, High-Capacity Connectivity

Pre-wired, Plug & Play

w w w . m o c k e t t . c o m • 8 0 0 - 5 2 3 - 12 6 9 Now available on
 ADVERTISEMENT

Code-Compliant Smoke & Fire Protective Curtains

Open Up Design Possibilities For Architects

Relatively new to North America, smoke and fire protective curtain

assemblies have been used extensively throughout Europe since
the 1980’s, but the history of this fire protection method can be
traced back as far as the 1600’s. While these products are not
replacements for fire door assemblies used in structural openings,
there are a number of applications where smoke and fire protective
curtain assemblies can be utilized for a hidden layer of fire
protection and interior design flexibility. Test standards and code
allowances in the United States have been further developed in
recent years, making these products an attractive fire protection
solution for building design professionals.

Smoke and fire protective curtains are used to create a nonstructural

fire barrier between two areas and offer a more aesthetically pleasing
alternative to traditional solutions. Comprised of a flexible fire-
resistant fabric that is mounted into a head box, the product can
be installed above the ceiling for a completely hidden layer of fire
protection. In the event of a fire, the electrically actuated curtain
simply lowers upon receiving a signal from a fire detection system to
seal off an opening. When deployed, the bottom of the curtain can • Proscenium openings
be weighted to assist with deployment and limit deflection caused • Service Counter Fire Doors where 20-minute opening
by air movement. Curtain products are available in very large sizes to protectives are allowed.
accommodate virtually any size opening.
When evaluating the use of smoke and fire protective curtain
There are a number of code based applications where smoke and assemblies in commercial buildings, there are specific
fire protective curtains are well suited to provide a cost effective performance standards to consider when specifying Smoke and
and aesthetically pleasing level of fire and smoke protection. A Fire Protective Curtains.
summary the compliant applications for smoke and fire protective
curtain assemblies is provided below. It should be noted that the • Code Compliance: The use of these products for specific
ultimate authority for product approval and acceptance lies with applications should be carefully evaluated against UL10D and
the fire protection authority having jurisdiction (AHJ). UL1784 and other code requirements as outlined above.

Compliant applications for smoke and fire protective curtains • Performance Characteristics: Life-cycle testing data should
also be provided; once installed these products should be
• Draft curtains for escalators, stair openings, and warehouse regularly tested to assure their viability in case of fire. A unit
storage areas. tested weekly would require a 1,000 life-cycle range to last for
• Smoke partitions, including opening protectives. twenty years.
• Elevator hoist-ways to limit smoke migration. • Control System Integration: Control systems should be UL
listed for code compliance and compatible with the control
• Opening protectives in corridors that require a 20-minute rating
box supplied with the smoke and fire protective curtain
and smoke barriers.
assemblies.
• Atria separation (either vertical or horizontal) to limit
• Aesthetic Characteristics: Careful attention should be paid
interconnection of levels.
to the curtain’s bottom bar and how flush it sits against the
• Space separation within a building where non-combustible, non- ceiling when fully retracted. Special bottom bar finishes can
bearing, interior partitions are required and where combustible be specified for an improved appearance.
curtains/draperies tested in accordance with NFPA 701 would not
• Available Options: Options such as sizing, orientation,
be appropriate.
guide systems, fabric materials, battery back-up, firefighters’
• Decorative ceiling designs that allow heat to bank downward to override, obstruction monitors, siren/strobe light capabilities
ensure that automatic sprinklers activate properly in the plane of and others can provide both system enhancement and overall
the membrane. cost reduction, depending on the situation.

Please contact The BILCO Company at colt@bilco.com to receive a copy of our white “Smoke and Fire
Protective Curtain Assemblies: Their Expanding Role in the Commercial Construction Market in North
America”. This paper contains a complete summary of all U.S. codes and standards that are applicable
to the use of smoke and fire protective curtains.
Work/Life With A Twist.
Since 1954, Florida Tile has been an innovator, marking many
accomplishments, from building the first floor tile plant in the USA
to introducing the first digitally printed products with our HDP–High
Definition Porcelain® lines. Throughout our history Florida Tile has been
a pioneer, but equally important, we have been a guideline for style.
Offering products that are both practical and stylish is what we are all
about, and tile never looked so good. Please visit us on the web for more
about this product and more at www.floridatile.com.
 103

“ ‘It’s hard to find people,

and I know the subs
are having a hard
time finding crews.’
A further reduction in
the construction job
force, Marc Padgett
says, could be
‘devastating.’ ”

The Effects of Trump’s Immigration Crackdown by Reed Karaim

104

Anyone who’s honest about construction in America

knows that much of what’s built in this country is
built by people who aren’t legally supposed to be
here. Claudia, a 46-year-old electrical subcontractor
in Dallas, is one of those people. Since entering the
United States without authorization 13 years ago from

15%
El Salvador, where she studied electrical engineering,
Claudia and her husband have worked on buildings of
every kind, large and small, residential and commercial.
Now she is wondering how long they can continue.
The percentage of the
“There are people I know that are afraid to come to
construction workforce
work and haven’t been going to work,” Claudia says.
composed of unauthorized
“I’m afraid and my husband is afraid, but we have no
immigrants
other choice. We have children, and we take care of my
mother, so we have to keep on working.”
The reason for that fear, of course, is the Trump
administration’s crackdown on undocumented Unauthorized Lawful
immigrants. While the president has said he’s focused Occupation immigrants immigrants
on deporting the “bad hombres” (a policy that
Total Total
would largely mirror President Barack Obama’s), the Civilian labor force Workers* Workers* Share Share
statistics indicate something different. In the current
administration’s first 100 days, arrests of undocumented Drywall installers, ceiling- 160 50 31% 17%
immigrants jumped 36 percent, according to U.S. tile installers and tapers

Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While three Roofers 240 70 29% 13%
out of four had criminal records, the biggest increase
Painters, construction,
by far came in the arrest of immigrants with no record. and maintenance
650 170 26% 18%
Those apprehensions more than doubled as federal
Brickmasons,
agents averaged more than 400 arrests a day. block masons 170 40 25% 14%
Simply reciting the statistics, however, feels and stonemasons

workforce stable after the great recession, appendix d: detailed tables”

inadequate. The numbers alone can’t convey the Carpet, floor, and tile
170 40 24% 14%
installers and finishers
thousands of personal stories behind the arrests as well

source: pew research center “size of u.s. unauthorized immigrant

as the growing apprehension and anger in the primarily Construction laborers 2,000 425 21% 26%
Latino immigrant community that is being targeted.
Federal agents have apprehended a father dropping Carpenters 1,320 220 17% 14%
his children off at school, a man who stopped by court
* In thousands (unless otherwise specified)
to pay traffic fines, a student who was waiting on a
street corner for a friend. They have raided homes and take a rocket scientist or an economist to tell you that
workplaces across the country, including construction if a disproportionate number are immigrants and a
sites in the states of Washington and Texas. portion are undocumented, then ultimately the impact
Indeed, the administration’s policies could have a will be felt on the industry and on the economy.”
profound impact on the building industry and everyone In the U.S., the construction industry is second
working in it, including architects. A growing number only to agriculture in its dependence on immigrant
of voices have begun to decry the consequences, which labor. Nearly 15 percent of the workforce in
could have a devastating effect on an industry that construction—about 1.25 million men and women—are
took years to rebound after the Great Recession and is undocumented immigrants, according to the Pew
already struggling with a labor shortage. Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank. Another
“Its impact is going to be overwhelming. It’ll take 240,000 undocumented immigrants work in a category
a little bit of time. … But ultimately, the ones who Pew defines as “installation, maintenance, and
are undocumented are going to stop going to work repair.” The common perception of undocumented
because of fear,” says Moises (Moe) Vela Jr., former construction workers may be of day laborers waiting
executive director of the National Association of to be picked up in a parking lot, but in truth they are
Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, who also served in heavily represented in several skilled building trades.
the Clinton and Obama administrations. “It doesn’t Pew’s research estimated that, as of 2014, 31 percent
We make the difference
for commercial professionals.
The perfect temperature for users.
And a design that’s anything but lukewarm.

The new Delta® DEMD-611LF electronic thermostatic faucet seamlessly

pairs ASSE 1070-certified technology with sleek, contemporary design.
Its above-deck mixing valve makes adjustment easy, and incorporated
supply lines allow for quick installation. Learn more about our innovative
technologies, styles and support at DeltaCommercialFaucets.com
106

of all drywallers, 29 percent of roofers, 26 percent of mortgages. Over the longer-term, Martín adds, the
painters, and 25 percent of masons are working in the impact will depend on the ability of the industry
U.S. without legal authorization. to train replacement workers or rely on increased
The proportion of undocumented workers is much mechanization to build with fewer people. “It’s going
higher in several parts of the country. “The reality to be a weight on the industry,” he says. “The question
is that in the state of Texas, up to 50 percent of the is whether it’s going to be an anchor—or just a weight.”
construction workforce is undocumented,” says Jose The argument for deporting undocumented
Garza, executive director of the Workers Defense immigrants without serious criminal records has long
Project, an organization that works with low-income been that they are taking jobs from American citizens
workers in Austin. and depressing wages. A spate of recent economic
Carlos Martín, a senior fellow at the Urban analyses, however, disputes those assertions. A study by
Institute who focuses on housing and communities, economists at the University of California, Davis and
says the lag in collecting and analyzing data means it Colgate University found that in states with an influx
will probably be the end of the year before the impact of immigrants between 1960 and 2000, native-born
of President Donald Trump’s policies is documented. workers tended to shift out of the manual labor taken
But “clearly,” he says, “mass deportation is going to by the newcomers into better-paying jobs, raising their
have an immediate effect on the construction industry.” incomes. Another study found that when industries
lost immigrant labor they tended to invest in increased
Fear in the Labor Force mechanization rather than hire native-born workers
Many builders and contractors say they are already at higher salaries. Some economists say immigrant
seeing the effects of Trump’s policies. “Have I seen labor increases economic growth overall, benefiting
this? Yes, I’ve seen it. In January, when we all had both immigrants and the native-born. “The average
these raids, that added to that fear. I’ve seen it in our American worker is more likely to lose than to gain
own city. I’ve seen it in Dallas. I’ve seen it in Houston,” from immigration restrictions,” Giovanni Peri, an
says Frank Fuentes, chairman of the U.S. Hispanic economist at UC Davis, told The New York Times.
Contractors Association, based in Austin. Economic studies aside, contractors say the
Garza says concerns in Texas have been heightened industry’s dependence on immigrant labor, both
by SB4, a new state law currently being challenged in documented and undocumented, is a reflection of a
court that gives local law officers the right to inquire stark reality. “Americans don’t want to do these jobs,”
about the immigration status of anyone they stop. But Chavarria says.
he adds, “I think it’s important to point out that the A major home builder who did not want to be
policies of the Trump administration have absolutely identified says his company has found that the native-
played a role in this.” born workers who are willing to take jobs tend to
Salvador Chavarria, owner of Viking Fence in be less reliable. “They have problems. They have no
Austin, relies on subcontractors for installation of driver’s licenses. Their grandmother died for the fifth
the fencing the company manufactures and sells in time. These Spanish guys, they just show up to work
several Texas markets. He uses E-Verify for his own every day, daylight till work ends, at least five or six
employees, but says, “We were hearing reports from our days a week. You just don’t have problems. All they
subcontractors that there were raids and their people want to do is work. You need people like that,” he says.
were being stopped and arrested, and, basically, it was The same builder also says the current system of
bringing a lot of fear into their labor force. So, yes, they enforcement allows contractors to maintain a necessary
have been impacted by it directly.” fiction. “You verify your subcontractors, and then
As his subcontractors struggle to keep or find they’re providing assurance about their employees,”
employees in the current atmosphere, Chavarria says, he says. “So, as far you know, they’re all legal. But you
his company has had to pay more for labor, which has and I know they’re not all legal.”
led to raising prices. His lead times have also gone up, The most recent survey by the National Association
and he’s had to turn down work. of Home Builders, released in August, indicated that
The effects will ripple across the industry. “One builders are already struggling with a growing shortage
can expect that projects will be shelved or postponed,” of workers and subcontractors. About three-fourths
Martín says. “Things are going to take longer and of builders surveyed reported shortages in carpenters
be more costly to build.” Rising housing costs, he and framers, more than six in 10 said they were facing a
adds, could hurt both consumers and the financial shortage of masons and concrete layers, while a similar
sector as fewer eligible homeowners can take out percentage said they needed more drywallers. Overall,
SET FOOT ON TIMELESS
TERR AZZO TILE
Tectura Designs is the only manufacturer of cementitious terrazzo tile in the USA. Our timeless tile
offers a strong and elegant low-maintenance solution for high-traffic areas: Distinguished colors
and patterns, base and transition tiles to match, exquisite craftsmanship and effortless installation.

Discover the possibilities at Te c t u ra D e s i g n s . c o m

CO NTE M P O R ARY C L AD | A MAT TER OF STILE

FOLD | SLIDE | SWING

LaCANTINADOORS.COM O P E N S PAC E S ®
 113

need to pay them more money, need to collect their

taxes, need to let them go home and come back legally.
Not only would it help us in all the trades, in labor,
it would save the country so much money—just look
at what we’re spending protecting the border.”

Architects’ Complicity HELPING YOU

HARNESS THE
What is less certain is the level of concern among
architects. “For many of us involved in the design of

POWER OF RAIN
cities, we understand that the history of the city has ™
always depended on immigrant labor. So instead of
rejecting immigrants, the policy goal should be how to
better integrate them,” says Teddy Cruz, a director of
the University of California, San Diego’s Cross-Border
Initiative, which studies trans-border culture.
Cruz believes many of his colleagues do not share THE GARDEN ROOF ®

the same concern. “In general, there is not that much ASSEMBLY
awareness, and whenever there is, there is not enough
will to challenge it,” he says “Architects … are often
complicit in unjust policy through mere acquiescence.” INTRODUCED OVER
Peggy Deamer, a professor of architecture at Yale 20 YEARS AGO,
University and co-founder of the Architecture Lobby, a
nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of labor issues PROVIDING:
among architects, believes an architect’s contractual
relationship with property owners means they are stormwater management solutions
distanced from concern about the workers on projects. reduce
She also believes a fundamental class issue comes into retain
play. “Architects don’t recognize themselves as workers, delay
and if you don’t recognize yourself as a worker, you don’t
recognize yourself as having affinity with other workers,” extended roof longevity
she says. “We think of ourselves as the creative class … additional usable space
and because we see ourselves as artists and creators,
somehow we see ourselves outside the economy.”
full assembly warranty
She fears this perspective could keep architects
from recognizing the implications of President Trump’s
immigration crackdown on the building industry and Learn more today at
their own work. “I think the mindset, the ideology, y p
would disconnect a slowdown from architectural
responsibility, concern, or activism,” Deamer says.
“It would be seen as, ‘Oh, this is another slump in the
economy; we’ve weathered these slumps before.’ ”
It appears that the slump, or at least the start of a
growing worker shortage, is already beginning. “Right
now, we’re seeing less undocumented workers on the
sites that we’re working on,” says Claudia, the Dallas-
based subcontractor. “Usually just two to four. You used
to see a lot more workers that were undocumented.”
Texas has plenty of work for electrical subcontractors,
but state law SB4 and the aggressive immigration raids
conducted by federal agents have Claudia and her
husband pondering their future, and the possibility
of finding a less hostile environment somewhere else.
“We have our plan B,” she says. “We’re leaving Texas.”

© 2017 Garden Roof is a registered trademark of American Hydrotech, Inc.

Harness the Power of Rain is a trademark of American Hydrotech, Inc.
A PRODUCT PORTFOLIO
AS DIVERSE AS YOUR NEEDS.

When you need

budget-friendly options,
energy efficiency,
attention to aesthetics,
architectural authenticity,
or all of the above,
think Andersen.

Andersen is the most

trusted and recognized
brand of windows and
patio doors among
contractors.*

*Based on 2016 survey of trade contractors. “Andersen” and all other marks where denoted are trademarks of Andersen Corporation. ©2017 Andersen Corporation. All rights reserved. MS1708_1084
 115

“I think there is a
concern that the
new interpretation
will be seen as the
real thing. It’s an
age-old discussion
in preservation.
How far do you take it?”

The Revival of the Portland Building by Brian Libby

116

On a sunny August afternoon, Carla Weinheimer, AIA, renovation has inspired a fresh wave of criticism,
a senior associate at DLR Group, is beaming. She’s especially from preservationists who fear that the
standing in front of a photograph inside the Michael proposed changes will get the building delisted from
Graves–designed Portland Public Service Building the National Register of Historic Places.
in Oregon. The photo, more than 30 years old, shows
the revered Portlandia statue being transported down A Long-Term Solution
the Willamette River, destined to be mounted over When the Portland Building opened in 1982, it was a
the building’s entrance. “Look at all these people defining moment for the city, which had historically
celebrating, on both sides of the river,” she says. shied away from commissioning ambitious, trophy-like
It might be a sunny day, but you wouldn’t know buildings. Then-Mayor Frank Ivancie even predicted
it standing inside the Portland Building. In the Graves’ building would come to be regarded as
lobby, there’s nearly a complete absence of natural Portland’s Eiffel Tower.
light. That’s one of the reasons that DLR Group, The project added a welcome dose of color and
working with the City of Portland, has embarked on whimsy to the city: It looks like a giant wrapped
a $195 million restoration of the 15-story municipal birthday present, complete with faux garlands affixed
office structure. The other reasons: The building has to two sides of its exterior. But the mayor’s prediction
been plagued by water leaks, structural issues, and never came to pass. The local design community largely
mechanical deficiencies. derided the project, most notably the city’s favorite
Both DLR Group and the city argue that the architectural son, midcentury master Pietro Belluschi.
restoration will help realize Graves’ original vision He called it an “oversized beribboned Christmas
for the project. The first major building in the United package” and warned that “today’s shock value may
States designed in a postmodern style, the Portland well be tomorrow’s drag.” It didn’t help matters that
Building suffered from extensive value-engineering. the building was built cheaply, with a budget of $29
“It’s pretty darn exciting to be part of remedying all million (about $74 million today, adjusted for inflation).
of the problems,” Weinheimer says. “It brings up the The renovation will give the building a new
building to what it needs to be.” aluminum exterior and rainscreen over-cladding that
From the beginning, the Portland Building has will cover the original concrete-and-tile façade to
been a lightning rod for controversy, inspiring both reduce leaks and the corresponding façade erosion.
love and hatred among residents for its provocatively “This is a long-term solution for this project,” says
colorful, flamboyantly neo-historic design. Now the Kristin Wells, a construction project manager for the
city. “In our kickoff meeting, the first thing we said was,
‘We will absolutely solve our envelope issues—period.’ ”
A rendering of
The building’s dark glass will be replaced with clear
the renovated
glazing, and retail spaces in the ground-floor loggias
Portland Building
will be removed to expand (and daylight) the lobby.
Mechanical equipment will be moved from its original
second-floor location to the roof to improve the quality
of air intake. Even the façade tile is being switched out
for a double-sized replacement. “It’s not a rote way of
doing it,” Wells says. “But it’s the right way to do this.”

Graves Rallies Support

Three years ago, the fate of the Portland Building was
largely uncertain. “My reaction is we should basically
tear it down and build something new,” city council
member Dan Saltzman told The Oregonian in January
2014; he went on to call the building “a nightmare for courtesy dlr group
people who work there.”
The possibility of demolition prompted Graves
to return to Portland, despite his declining health (he
passed away about a year later). Speaking to a packed
audience at the Portland Art Museum, Graves joked
that he’d expected one of the city’s many food trucks
 k it reality
W to details.
it a ll c o m e s d o w n
For an architect, e d s e le c tio n o f products,
IN TS ™ o ff ers a n unsurpass u r v is io n to life.
PPG PA lp b ring every bit o f y o
d to o ls to h e
colors an

Ou r Paint

LEARN MORE AT PPGPAINTS.COM/ARCHITECT.

The PPG Paints Logo is a trademark and the PPG Logo is a registered trademark of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc. © 2017 PPG Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
118

to park outside, in order to sell tomatoes that attendees to happen’ because of budget.” The city also rejected
could hurl at him on stage. Still, he argued that the Graves’ suggestion of stucco because of maintenance
project should be saved. “I would be devastated, I concerns, instead proposing painted concrete. “Michael
know, if any of my buildings came down,” he told me said, ‘I don’t care if we make it out of oatmeal.’ ”
after the event, “not just in my lifetime but ever. They
are your children and you love them all.” Graves gave Violating the Historic Integrity?
his blessing to a restoration that would substantially Yet the scope of the proposed changes has rankled some
alter the building, including switching out the glass preservationists. No one, including the city’s Historic
and changing the covered loggias on the ground floor. Landmarks Commission, which approved the redesign
“It was a building built cheaply and had a lot of in August, has questioned the new glass, even though it
problems. Michael knew that,” says Patrick Burke, will noticeably alter the building’s composition. Much
AIA, a principal with Michael Graves Architecture & of the façade has tiny square windows. Where glass was
Design. “Michael’s intent was shapes, colors. In truth, used more extensively, in large swaths in the middle of
he loved working with nice materials when we had each of the four sides, it usually had spandrel panels
higher budgets. But he was also very quick to do what behind it, preventing any natural light from entering.
he needed to do to be within budgets. Michael would The dark glass “actually was a mistake,” explains Burke.
have been open to talking about other materials.” “[Architect-of-record Emery] Roth put it in, supposedly
Graves initially had chosen a glazed terra-cotta tile for energy efficiency. Michael blew up. They said, ‘Too
façade. “He was so excited,” Burke recalls. “He thought late, we bought black glass.’ ”
it was going to be this sparkly building in a rainy The problem has been more with the aluminum
climate. Then the contractors told him, ‘It’s not going over-cladding. In a letter to Ian P. Johnson, the
 119

associate deputy state historic preservation officer for

1
Oregon, Lisa Deline, a reviewer with the National
Register of Historic Places, wrote that the over-
cladding, “if undertaken, would destroy the historic
integrity of the building and necessitate its removal
from the National Register.”
Local architect Peter Meijer wrote the building’s
National Register application (because of its
significance, the project was listed in 2011, well before
the usual 50-year benchmark for being deemed
historic). Meijer believes the over-cladding is a matter
of anti-leak overzealousness. “What the city said was,
‘We want you to give us a warranty for 10 years.’ A repair
of the existing façade will get you a warranty for three
to five years, depending on the sealant, but not a 10-year
courtesy dlr group

warranty. The city raised the bar on their expectations

to the point where there is only one solution: to
completely cover it up with a brand new skin. But metal
panels will really never be able to have the same look as
Rainscreen curtainwall assembly a painted concrete building.” Meijer also believes the
1. Panel layer 2. Framing and insulation 3. Existing wall over-cladding will create more of a tunnel effect for the

photo: Marc Sourbron

ExperienceDaylighting
DONE RIGHT
®

KALWALL
high performance translucent building systems 800 258 9777 | KALWALL.COM | +1 603 627 3861
120

already-small windows, thereby eliminating the gains inreplicate,” Weinheimer says. “It became clear to
natural light made by swapping out the dark glass. everyone, every consultant, that tile replication
DLR Group and the city both insist that adding needed to happen in a rainscreen format to be safe
the rainscreen was the only viable solution. “We and to perform over time.” Once they decided to use a
currently have tiles adhered directly to the concrete. rainscreen over the tiled portions of the façade, doing
No one in the city believes it’s a condition we can the same for the concrete portions was a matter of
performance and aesthetic continuity:
keeping the façade’s depth consistent.
The city’s façade consultant for the
project, Michael D. Lewis, AIA, of Ohio-
based Façade Forensics, supported
the approach. In a letter to the city,
Lewis wrote that the building’s defects
“could not be corrected by restoration-
type repairs limited to traditional
preservation techniques.”
Recently, DLR Group did a mock-
up, affixing an aluminum panel to the
building’s exterior. To a surprising
degree, it resembled the original façade,
which might be problematic in its own
right. “I think where the discussion
starts with the Portland Building is
the idea of over-cladding and calling it
preservation,” says Theo Prudon, FAIA,
president of Docomomo US. “You
could call it interpretive restoration, I
suppose. But interpretations of history
are always problematic. When you
go into a historic building, there’s a
process of making clear what you did is
new. I think there is a concern that the
new interpretation will be seen as the
real thing. It’s an age-old discussion in
preservation. How far do you take it?”
Patrick Burke believes that the
answer revolves largely around the
needs of the workers in the building.

Ask Us
How do I get a superior
“You have an obligation to the users. I
think you should let the buildings live.
Michael was asked that question many
times. He said, ‘Do it. I’d rather see my
buildings get updated than be out of
date and out of step.’ ”
roof edge detail? The Portland City Council is
expected to issue final approvals for
the restoration this month. In a way,
the project will itself be postmodern.
You would never choose cover tape over a hot-air weld in the field, so By blurring the lines between what is
why choose it for the perimeter? We provide premium, fully-welded, old and what is new, Graves’ building
colored face, skirted TPO or PVC edge-metal details that withstand is once again confronting history on its
weathering. What’s in your bid? own terms. Only this time that history
is its own.

mulehide com | 800-786-1492

Single-Ply • Mod Bit • Coatings • Accessories
 The vision:
Classic architectural style with modern efficiency.
Photo courtesy of Kenneth M. Wyner Photography, Inc.

“Every aspect of the window was well-conceived and Kolbe was able
to provide meaningful solutions for several shaped units that were
large, difficult to engineer and install.”
University of Virginia | Charlottesville, VA

Entering its third century in 2020, University of Virginia positions its campus for continued growth
and success as it continues the vision of its founder, Thomas Jefferson. Contributing to UVA’s
enduring vision and the architectural tradition established by Jefferson, Kolbe’s windows and
doors are featured on several campus buildings. Only Kolbe could provide the custom sizes,
craftsmanship, options, and performance for the renovated Rouss Hall and Monroe Hall, and the
new LEED® Gold certified Bavaro Hall.

Find your vision at KolbeWindows.com | 800.955.8177

 123

If the studio course is the bedrock of architectural

education, then it follows that as the studio goes, so,
eventually, goes the profession. By highlighting the
most innovative courses in architectural schools across
North America, the Studio Prize offers a glimpse into
the concepts shaping today’s design students, and into
the ways they might influence the built environment in
the future.
This year’s jury of distinguished practitioners and
educators—Renée Cheng, FAIA, Carlos Jiménez, and
V. Mitch McEwen—was driven to analyze both the
student work on display and the curricular framework
of the studios themselves. “In the past, it was sufficient
for the studio premise to be bound by the traditional
silos of the profession,” Cheng says. “Today’s studios
are embracing influences well outside of traditional
architectural concerns, and use analytical techniques
that may be data-driven or scaleless. When these
explorations are catapulted into form and space, the
results can be spine-tinglingly exciting.”
The studios that garnered this year’s awards—the
Studio Prize for general excellence and the Sloan
Award for investigations into sustainability and water
conservation—embody this idea. They look to outside
influences for inspiration and use collaboration to
leverage the impact of design on social, sustainable,
or tectonic terms. If this breadth of approach gets
baked into the DNA of the next generation, their
contributions to architecture will be transformative.
124

Studio Prize
Mining Appalachia

University of Virginia
School of Architecture

Studio Brief:
This studio asked third-year master’s
students to propose a small-scale
interpretive or welcome center at a
National Park Service site. Situated
at an abandoned coal mine in West
Virginia, the property is rich with
historic industrial structures, and
the students were encouraged to use
these as precedents to inspire their
own detail-focused designs.

Investigation:
Dating back to the late 1800s, the riverside mining about a potential visitor experience. “People react to
complex in Nuttallburg, W.Va., is an industrial ghost beautiful sites in different ways,” Ford says. “Some
town. Out of commission since the 1950s, the rusting want to make as minimal a disturbance as possible,
collection of buildings and infrastructure provided others blow a hole in the mountain.”
inspiration for a studio imagining new life for the site. Students began sketching and modeling by hand—
The studio—co-taught by professor Edward Ford, AIA, first small interventions based on what they saw on
and assistant professor Luis Pancorbo—focused on the their visit, then tectonic systems, then bigger models
context as a library of architectural details. to test their ideas for new structures to augment the
Students spent a day touring the mine; it’s now site. The remaining rails, steel beams, and trusses
under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, had a strong influence on the student projects—some
which is considering adding a visitor center. One of were even incorporated as design elements in the
the most complete coal-related historic sites in the U.S., proposed structures—and tapping into such a robust
the complex contains mine entrances, ore-conveyance architectural language grabbed the jury’s attention.
infrastructure, and an extensive railroad network. The “Graphically it’s quite rich,” said juror Carlos Jiménez,
instructors encouraged the students to think broadly “and there are moments that are so compelling.”
 125

Connection Details

Studio Credits
Course: Mining Appalachia
School: University of Virginia, School of Architecture
Level: M.Arch., without preprofessional degree (year three)
Duration: Spring 2017 semester
Instructor: Edward Ford, aia (professor of architecture); Luis Pancorbo (assistant professor)
Students: Joseph Brookover, Nicholas Darin, Andrew Shea (submitted projects);
Adjoa Akowuah, Carey Alcott, Joshua Kahn Aronson, Meredith Blake, Philip Chang, Di Chen,
Blue Vincent Clements, Tamara Dennis, Benjamin Glor, Lizhe Han, Laurence Holland,
Jennifer Hsiaw, Chad Miller, Shannon Ruhl, Matt Scarnaty, Sam Harrison Sidersky,
Sean Sullivan, Hao Wang, Dillon Wilson, Tensae Woldesellasie, Fuhou Zhang

Cliff-Side Dwelling
Joseph Brookover’s proposal to
reinvigorate the historic site includes
a stack of expandable, multipurpose
rooms that cling to the upper ridge of
a gorge. Beams anchor diagonally into
the cliff face (a common practice in the
old mining infrastructure) and support
a scaffold made of prefabricated parts.
126

Visitor Center Floor Plan

 127

Post-Industrial Appalachia
Andrew Shea’s proposal for a
10,000-square-foot visitor center builds
directly onto an existing overhead
structure that served to load coal onto
freight trains. Exhibit and lecture areas
are embedded between the existing
steel support towers and cantilever
over the river below. A barlike volume
embedded into the hill connects these
spaces and holds mechanical and
storage areas.

Section Through Lecture Space Projecting Over River

128

Memorial to the Fallen Miners

Nicholas Darin’s proposal for a memorial to miners killed in mining accidents throughout Appalachia features
three suspended volumes that step down a hill, following the steep drop-off of the site’s topography. The visitor
experience, which is intended to recall that of miners moving through the tunnels, culminates in the memorial
proper: a 72-foot-tall steel cage filled with slate that references the collapses and slides that killed many miners
in the region.

Longitudinal Section
 129

Stacked Floor Plans and Roof Plan

130

Studio Prize
Vagabond, Nomadic House (Imagination + Construction + Experience)

Université Laval
Faculty of Planning, Architecture, Arts and Design

Studio Brief:
This first-year master’s studio
proposed new housing strategies
and designs for rapidly growing
populations in two Inuit villages
in northern Québec. Moving
away from the top-down housing
interventions of the past, the studio
engaged students with addressing
local needs and interests in the
design process.
 131

Investigation:
The formerly nomadic Inuit of Nunavik, a region details that would withstand Arctic conditions.
in northern Québec, have recently transitioned to Students took a long-term view of how the Inuit can
a stationary lifestyle, mostly through government- guide village planning and housing. “These villages
subsidized housing. But they had little say in how their have to think about the future,” Blais says. “People
homes were designed and their culture shaped. With should feel that they can be more involved.”
Canadian government funding and in partnership The studio took a weeklong trip to visit the villages,
with other universities, Université Laval is pursuing a study the pre-existing housing, and meet with local
multifront effort to reimagine the communities’ design leaders to learn about their changing lifestyle.
and self-determination. The jury was impressed by the range of approaches
A Université Laval architecture studio, led by and the overall sensitivity to the community’s needs.
professor Myriam Blais, looked at how housing can “It’s talking about the site in a way that is aware of
better meet the communities’ needs at a variety of anthropology, but really fresh,” juror V. Mitch McEwen
scales—from territorial conditions to construction said. “And the architecture resonates with that.”

Project Credits
Studio: Vagabond, Nomadic House (Imagination + Construction + Experience)
School: Université Laval, Faculty of Planning, Architecture, Arts and Design
Level: M.Arch., with preprofessional degree (year one)
Duration: Spring 2017 trimester
Instructor: Myriam Blais (professor)
Teaching Assistant: Simon Proulx
Students: Marie-Jeanne Allaire-Côté, Mélissa Mailhot, Alexandre Morin (submitted projects); Luna Al-Nashar, Janick Biron, Anaïs Bourassa-Denis,
Julie Bradette, Audray Fréchette-Barbeau, Nicolas Jean, Delphie Laforest Pradet, Audrey Morency, Audrey Turcotte
132

First-Floor Plan—Summer

The North, As Perceived

Mélissa Mailhot’s proposal for a
new type of dwelling features a large
enclosed porch that is inspired by the
construction of Inuit kayaks. The house
rises on piers to minimize impact on
the landscape and is constructed of
recycled and recyclable materials.
The porch can be opened to the rest of
the house in warmer months, increasing
living area, and it provides a sheltered
First-Floor Plan—Winter
connection to the landscape and an
insulating buffer for the living spaces
during the harsh winter (bottom left).

Construction System Diagrams

 133

Qatigiipuut—Let’s Do It Together
Marie-Jeanne Allaire-Côté focused
less on a single dwelling and more on
how architecture can help to create
a sense of permanence for a people
who have long been nomadic. She
grouped dwellings into family clusters
and prioritized gathering space within
them (above) to allow the community’s
tradition of collaboration to take
precedence in these new static villages.
134

First-Floor Plan Second-Floor Plan

Nordic Home
Alexandre Morin designed a housing
prototype and carved its living room
Cross-Section Longitudinal-Section
into a diverse series of spaces, so that
a large family of eight or nine people
can cohabitate while pursuing different
activities (opposite). The scheme
prioritizes views from the group areas
to a nearby river and other landscape
features, allowing the residents to
maintain their connection to nature
even while staying indoors together
through the winter months (top).
135
136

Studio Prize
Real Fictions Cairo

University of Pennsylvania
School of Design

Studio Brief: Investigation:

To address Cairo’s severe traffic Cairo has no shortage of urban challenges. “It’s a
gridlock and lack of quality public city that is completely suffocating because of traffic
space, this third-year master’s problems, bad infrastructure planning, no public
studio developed tactical designs spaces, no parks,” says Ferda Kolatan, an associate
that could transform the city’s professor at the University of Pennsylvania, School of
existing transportation infrastructure Design. “The pedestrians are a complete afterthought.”
into urban amenities. Focusing That’s part of the reason Kolatan was asked by the
specifically on areas where bridges Egyptian Ministry of Culture in Cairo to develop a
meet the edge of downtown, the studio that could come up with solutions.
students were tasked with proposing After talking with local residents, politicians, and
subtle but meaningful interventions planners, the studio decided to focus on three sites
to the built environment. where a bridge over the Nile touches down in the city.
On a trip to the Egyptian capital, students visited
these areas and took photos and videos that they
used to create almost-hyperrealistic renderings of the
current conditions. These visuals are the basis for their
projects—each of which rethinks use and usability.
The goal was to hybridize existing infrastructure
with new architectural elements. Uniquely, the
studio called on students to present these ideas as
decontextualized “objects.” “Rather than suggest
specific solutions, we wanted to present prototypes that
can be implemented at different scales,” Kolatan says.
The jury cited this approach in awarding the prize:
“It’s not just formal exploration, it’s tied to a brief that
addresses economy and how different aspects of the
city relate to each other,” said juror V. Mitch McEwen.

Studio Credits
Course: Real Fictions Cairo (Design Research Studio)
School: University of Pennsylvania, School of Design
Level: M.Arch., without preprofessional degree (year three) and Master of Science in Design, Advanced Architectural Design, postprofessional degree
Duration: Spring 2017 semester
Instructor: Ferda Kolatan (associate professor of practice, coordinator of design research studies)
Teaching Assistant: Michael Zimmerman
Students: Alexander Tahinos, Angela Huang, Meari Kim, Kyuhun Kim, Angeliki Mavroleon, Rosanne Pitarresi (submitted projects); Aly Abouzeid,
John Dade Darby, Carrie Rose Frattali, Angeliki Tzifa, Kaikang Shen, Jianbo Zhong
Special Thanks: Eng. Ibrahim Mehlib, Dr. Laila Iskandar, Eng. Mohamed Abu Saeda, Dr. Gihane Zaki, Dr. Haby Hosney, Aly Abouzeid, Ahmed Zaazaa
137
138

Pier Gardens
Alexander Tahinos and Angela Huang
reimagined the western landing of
the Qasr Al Nil Bridge, adding stairs
and ramps to open up the existing
waterfront promenade, which would
be supplemented by cafés and retail
(previous page). Decommissioned piers
are recast as offices (below), topped
by wild gardens irrigated by turbines in
the river (right). Sited near a classical
garden that limits public entry, this
garden would be accessible to all
residents.
 139

Railway Bazaar
This proposal from Angeliki Mavroleon
and Rosanne Pitarresi carves out space
beneath the Imbaba Bridge that serves
as a bazaar, both to add a second use to
the railway structure (next page) and to
provide safe pedestrian access across
it, which does not exist today. Skylights
bring natural light into a subterranean
space, which sits at the point where
the bridge meets the bank of the Nile
(above).
140
141
142
 143

Over-Under Bridge
Meari Kim and Kyuhun Kim’s proposal reconfigures the landing of the 6th of October
Bridge, a main vehicular artery into downtown Cairo. Their solar-paneled bus canopy
provides shade and helps reorganize chaotic bus lanes; it sits at the base of a new
office tower that connects the different levels of traffic and infrastructure, providing
safer connections for pedestrians than the current conditions. An empty space under
the bridge is converted into a new performance space (above) that makes what is now
a chaotic intersection into a cultural destination.
144

Studio Prize
Natural Tendencies

Woodbury University
School of Architecture

Studio Brief: Investigation:

This second-semester studio for The first year at Woodbury is a skill-building year—
first-year B.Arch. students is a tightly one that lays the foundation for competent growth.
controlled introduction to a wide “We’re preparing students to study architecture from
range of architectural concepts, a position of empowerment,” says associate professor
tools, and skills. By keeping the Heather Flood, who co-taught the studio with Yi-Hsiu
programmatic focus narrow, students Yeh and Nate Imai. “They’re well-tooled, conceptually
were able to investigate the tectonics and technically, to engage difficult problems later on.”
of architecture—learning about This studio uses the tectonics of structure and
materials, fabrication, site, and architecture to guide the students toward that place of
synthesis in one comprehensive empowerment. The students design a 10,000-square-
course of study. foot rectangular library, but the focus is less on the end
product than the process, which Flood breaks into four
phases. First, a material exploration, in which students
build three bar-shaped models of the library by hand.
Second is fabrication, where the students create models
using Grasshopper and digital fabrication. Third, the
students incorporate GIS data to produce site plans.
Finally, the students create five models based on their
newfound understanding and control over tectonics.
“Looking at the way something is made both
materially and in terms of construction logics is
enough to generate a rich architectural idea,” she says.
The simplicity of this approach impressed the jury.
“It was nicely crafted,” said juror Renée Cheng. “You
could really see what the students were learning
in the series of things they produced.”

Project Credits
Course: Natural Tendencies
School: Woodbury University, School of Architecture
Level: B.Arch. (year one)
Duration: Spring 2017 semester
Instructors: Heather Flood (associate professor, visiting faculty); Yi-Hsiu Yeh, Nate Imai (adjunct faculty)
Students: Anahit Antanyan, Louiza Chilian, Ulysses Hermosillo (submitted projects); Adrian Rios, Adriel Navarro, Angel Escobar, Anthony
Johnson, Arda Kilickan, Christopher Madrid, Cindy Chilin, Douglas Lopez, Erik Ortiz, Hosam Fatani, Jackely Tejada, Jesse Perez, Juan Devis,
Karla Sandoval, Kevin Lugo-Negrete, Kimberly Perez, Lamont Burnley, Madeline Ramirez, Marta Huo, Max M. Perez, Melissa Uyuni,
Michael Sanchez, Micol Romano, Patrick Castro, Peter Patpatian, Ricardo Jimenez Mosqueda, Rita Midourian, Rodney Yasmeh, Ryana Rangel,
Saul Santizo, Sharece Shabazian, Ulysses Hernandez
145
146

Section

First-Floor Plan

Natural Tendencies 1
Anahit Antanyan’s plan and section
for the 10,000-square-foot community
library—sited (as are all the student
projects) on Mariachi Plaza in the Boyle
Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles—
features a series of switchback aisles
under a vaulted ceiling. The sloping
roof creates occupiable outdoor spaces
programmed with seating.
 147

Section

First-Floor Plan

Natural Tendencies 2
Ulysses Hermosillo’s library has
several terraced levels that create an
active experience as visitors move
throughout the space and provide quiet
nooks for reading and study, as well as
community gathering.
148

First-Floor Plan

Natural Tendencies 3
Louiza Chilian’s scheme focuses on
public spaces in the ground floor,
including a community room, computer
station, and café, alongside a children’s
reading area. A protruding shade
structure marks the entry from the
public plaza.
 149

Exploded Axonometric Section Diagram

150

Studio Prize
Urbanism After Extraction

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

School of Architecture + Planning

Studio Brief: Investigation:

This urban design studio for As southern Poland shifts away from coal mining, its
first-year master’s students landscape, population, and economy are undergoing
studying architecture and urban a dramatic reconfiguration—one to which a typical
planning focused on post- urban design approach doesn’t apply. To understand
industrial transformation in the the region’s unique conditions, the students did
coal-producing region of southern extensive in-studio mapping and spatial analysis of the
Poland. Students were tasked with area, and researched emerging development models
developing proposals for the region’s as potential precedents for reorganizing policies and
post-coal future that emphasized development patterns. They then embarked on a 10-day
environmental reclamation and research trip, starting in Berlin, where they toured the
social reconstruction. The intended nontraditional developments they’d studied, followed
outcome was not solely buildings by a trip into southern Poland’s coal country. Through
or infrastructure projects, but also a collaboration with a local university, the students
policy proposals that could guide were given a firsthand look at the region’s communities,
the region’s transition. touring industrial sites and seeing the social
implications of the area’s economic transformation.
After returning to MIT, the students developed
proposals centered around interventions that engage
both the sites and residents. “More than creating a
physical project, it was about shifting the perception
of the industrial landscape, and preparing the social
and environmental context for something new,” says
lecturer Marie Law Adams, AIA, who co-led the studio
with associate professor Rafi Segal.
That approach grabbed the attention of the jury:
Carlos Jiménez noted that he was “very impressed by
the thoroughness of the intention of the studio.”

Project Credits
Course: Urbanism After Extraction
School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture + Planning
Level: M.Arch., with preprofessional degree (year one); Master of Science in Architectural Studies, Master in City Planning
Duration: Spring 2017 semester
Instructors: Rafi Segal (associate professor of architecture and urbanism), Marie Law Adams, aia (lecturer of urban design and planning)
Teaching Assistant: Garine Boghossian
Students: Monica Hutton, Ranu Singh, Daya Zhang, Diana Ang, Giovanni Bellotti, Kelly Leilani Main, Alexander Wiegering,
Mario Giampieri, Nayeli Rodriguez (submitted projects); Nneka Sobers, Max Moinian, Akemi Sato, Justin Lim
Collaborators: Silesian University of Technology; Association of Polish Architects, Katowice; studio travel funded by MIT Leventhal Center for
Advanced Urbanism and MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning
151
152

Silesia By Nature
Nayeli Rodriguez and Mario Giampieri,
working together, proposed a framework
for community-based decision-
making to address the redevelopment
opportunities in the industrially
degraded landscape, particularly
around the city of Katowice in eastern
Silesia. An app (previous spread
and right), backed by a marketing
campaign (above), allows residents
and stakeholders to map out potential
projects that range from new temporary
housing to the historic preservation
of existing structures, allowing for
community involvement in shaping the
new direction of their region.
153
154

Region Plan Showing Population Centers and Potential Sites

 155

Site Plan for Cultural Gatherings

The Civic Forest

Forests cover about 30 percent of
Silesia, but they have been degraded by
decades of pollution and industry. The
team of Giovanni Bellotti, Alexander
Wiegering, Diana Ang, and Kelly Leilani
Main looked at how to reinvigorate the
woodlands and reconnect them to the
community as a natural resource. In
particular, the students looked at the
logging cycle, which creates clearings
whose locations change each year.
They proposed cultural programming
centers around a large community table
or gathering space that could be moved
from one clearing to another over the
course of the season.
156

Z Koplani: Out of the Mines

Ranu Singh, Daya Zhang, and Monica Hutton developed a narrative around a
traditional Miners’ Day festival in the region, tweaking it to draw stronger social and
economic ties between the various Silesian mining communities. They devised a
scheme for cultural events that celebrates community heritage with programming
along a specific geographic route, and their plan even addressed year-round fund-
raising goals that could make the project a reality.
 157

Route Map
158

Sloan Award
Toronto Ravine Re-Create

University of Toronto
John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design

Project Credits
Course: Toronto Ravine Re-Create
School: University of Toronto, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
Level: M.Arch., without preprofessional degree (year three), Master in Landscape Architecture (year three), Master in Urban Design
(year two)
Duration: Fall 2016 semester
Instructor: Alissa North (associate professor)
Students: Andrew Hooke, Rachel Salmela, Tianjiao Yan, Zhoufan Wan, Yuan Zhuang, Anna Varga-Papp, Stephen Brophy, Asuka Kono,
Leonard Flot, Kangning Zhao, Kamila Grigo, Christina Boyer, Hannah Soules, Xinyu Hao (submitted projects)
Collaborators: The City of Toronto; Evergreen Brick Works; the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority

Seed Dispersal Infrastructure

 159

Studio Brief: Investigation:

This cross-disciplinary, upper-level The Don River and the Humber River weave through
master’s design studio asked students the heart of downtown Toronto, but they’re often
how rivers and ravines could be regarded as separate from the urban life of the city.
repositioned as living and dynamic Associate professor of landscape architecture Alissa
systems within a city. Focusing on North has studied rivers for years, and she argues these
Toronto’s two main waterways, the two in particular are more than just visual assets. The
studio built on city government work city government has developed a draft strategy for
already in process to propose new how to address the rivers and the surrounding ravines.
and innovative ideas for developing Students worked with the city to build on that plan
stronger connections between the and develop design ideas for implementing it.
rivers and the urban core. Through mapping, hydrogeological studies, and
digital and physical modeling, the students analyzed
the rivers as systems, and considered the environmental,
social, infrastructural, and economic roles the two
waterways could play in broader civic life.
Students were divided into three groups: One
focused on interventions that could happen within
the rivers themselves and along their edges, another
concentrated on the variable flood plains of the rivers
and the steeper slopes of the ravines, and the third
explored the urban-scale interactions of city and river,
looking for opportunities of symbiosis. Their
concluding projects—which some of the students
developed into masters theses—propose methods
to catalyze the transformation of the ravines.
Though largely landscape focused, the studio was
open to students from both architecture and urban
design—part of an effort to expose students across
departments to new ways of designing. “It’s less about
the discipline and more about how students can think
at all scales,” North says.
In awarding the Sloan Prize for investigations
into sustainability and water conservation, the jury
applauded the studio’s focus on both formal and urban
solutions. “There’s a clarity and real sophistication of
production,” juror V. Mitch McEwen said.
160

Plan of Built Interventions in the River

The Rivers
Andrew Hooke’s analysis at the level of the rivers examines how sediment and seed
dispersal can, over time, help to change and reinvigorate the landscape (above and
facing page). Built interventions such as benches, lookout points, and bridges help to
engage area residents with nature. His proposal includes dotting the river itself with
vertical rods containing seeds from a variety of native species that can be dispersed
by the flowing water, augmenting the natural landscape and repopulating local flora
over the seasons (previous spread).
 161

Built Interventions After Plant Regrowth

162

Ravine Interventions Plan

 163

The Ravines
Kangning Zhao’s investigation of the ravines in and around Toronto led to a proposal that
uses landscape as infrastructure to help redirect water flow and manage flooding. In order
to encourage area residents to engage with the natural landscape of the ravine, the project
incorporated pathways, benches, meadows, and bike trails. Sculptural interventions will
double as wayfinding devices to help people navigate their way around. A planting strategy
encourages the growth and spread of native flora.
164
 165

The City
Projects focused on the city level
explored how to foster links between
the natural ravines and the urban
context of Toronto. Hannah Soules
looked into how stormwater runoff
can be reclaimed in a greenway in the
downtown core, bringing both native
plantings and public programming
to the neighborhood (right). Farmers
markets and cafés help activate
the streetscape and encourage the
connections to water. The canal in
Soules’ plan can shift uses depending
on the season—from a landscaped
waterway in the summer to an ice
skating rink in winter (opposite).
 Meet The SR6700.

Authenticity, Reliability and Strength. YOUR VISION. OUR EXPERIENCE.

Steel windows from the early 20th century were big, with true divided lites and
single pane glass. Accurately reproducing them means incorporating modern
materials and insulating glass to create a contemporary version of this classic design. 
GRAHAM
ARCHITECTURAL PRODUCTS

Graham’s innovative SR6700 meets the challenge. This authentic look is achieved grahamwindows.com 800-755-6274
with large openings, minimal sightlines, applied grids and even a floating vent.  So
authentic that we have helped numerous projects attain National Park Service Architectural Windows Window Wall Curtain Wall Doors

historic approval.  Bring your vision to life. Call Graham.

Learn more about Graham’s SR6700: grahamwindows.com/AR67 Starrett-Lehigh Building, New York City
DESIGNED WITH PURPOSE

Because our expectations are as high as yours. Discover the difference at marvinwindows.com.
 169

Residential: Eero Saarinen’s

Penn Dorms Reopen

text by sara johnson

In August, the first batch of University of Pennsylvania students moved into the
spiffed-up Eero Saarinen–designed Hill College House, a 195,000-square-foot
women’s residence hall built in 1960. (The dorm has since gone co-ed.) Entered via
a bridge over a “moat” on the west side, the five-story brick structure contains an
expansive atrium with a dining hall below. Princeton, N.J.–based Mills + Schnoering
Architects led the $80 million renovation, which included replacing the M/E/P
systems and roof, installing LEDs in the atrium, upgrading the kitchen, and adding
an elevator and air conditioning. Philadelphia’s Olin updated Dan Kiley’s landscape.
aislinn weidele

> For more information and images about the Hill College House renovation, visit ARCHITECT’s Project Gallery at bit.ly/HillCollegeHouse.
170 Residential

Expressive Lines Embellish

Screen-Printed Wallpapers
text by selin ashaboglu

Cosmic Splash, Aimée Wilder

Part of New York–based designer Aimée Wilder’s new Phantasmagoria
collection, Cosmic Splash is a bold pattern on FSC-certified paper.
This outer space–inspired wallpaper repeats every 36", and is available
in nine matte or clear-gloss colorways. aimeewilder.com

Bomba, Juju Papers Dither, Flavor Paper

There is a subtle rhythm to the irregularity of Bomba, a new wallpaper Designed by Brooklyn, N.Y.–based artist Mark Dean Veca, Dither’s
collection covered in squiggly lines that resemble doodles on a arrangement of layered, curved lines gives the impression of three-
sketchpad. Bomba’s pattern repeats every 36", and was created using dimentionality. The wallpaper’s pattern repeats every 9", and comes in
water-based inks. Available in six colorways. jujupapers.com four colorways on clay-coated paper. flavorpaper.com

> For more wall-covering products, visit bit.ly/ResidentialWallpaper.

 SILENT GLISS
Be inspired and follow us on twitter.com/SilentGlissInc

OPENS IN SOHO COME SEE US AT OUR

like us on facebook.com/SilentGlissInc

NEW SOHO SHOWROOM

LOCATED AT:

Silent Gliss Inc.

Silent Gliss is the leading global premium supplier of 304 Hudson Street
motorized and manual curtain and blind systems. Suite 402 B
New York NY 10013
We offer our customers the very best in quality,
T 718-412-9040
technology and service. Custom-made products with info@SilentGlissAmerica.com
Swiss ingenuity! SilentGlissAmerica.com
 DECEMBER 6–7, 2017
INTERCONTINENTAL
DOWNTOWN LA

Keynote
Steve Case
trust and transformation: Chairman and CEO,
Revolution LLC; Co-Founder,
H O W I N N OVAT I O N W O R K S America Online and Author,
The Third Wave

HIVE is the marquee event in the nation that touches Keynote

every aspect of housing. Join the best and brightest Chip Conley
Head of Global Hospitality
construction and design professionals, academics, and Strategy, Airbnb
and thought leaders from an array of industries
passionate about design, business strategies, and
Carlo Ratti
innovation to stimulate new ideas and shape the Founding partner at
Carlo Ratti Associati
future of how people live, work and play.

Passes are limited.

Jason McLennan
CEO, McLennan Design;
Register Today! Founder/Creator, Living
Building Challenge
AR.hwhive.com

Maura McCarthy
Title and Underwriting Sponsor Co-founder, VP Market
Development, Blu Homes

Founding Sponsors
Eve Picker
Founder, Small Change

Alliance Sponsors
James Chung
President, Reach
Advisors
Advertisement

Residential design is the most

personal and immediate
touchstone for the impact
architecture has on our lives.

Hanley Wood congratulates and thanks Jenn-Air for

its ongoing commitment to excellence and innovation
in home design.
 ADVERTISEMENT

WE REDEFINE THE KITCHEN

Designers are no longer constrained by standard cooktop design to cradle the round-bottom pan. Both of these induction
configurations. Jenn-Air’s new modular cooktops redefine modules deliver fast, efficient and highly responsive cooking power.
the idea of what a cooking surface can be. Modular cooktops
For those who desire gas, designers may choose from a
provide a wide range of options for customization that create a
2-burner cooktop module and/or a single-burner cooktop
unified look whether traditional or flush installation is specified.
module with a wok ring. The single-burner offers BTU output
No matter what the cooking style or design sensibility, Jenn-Air®
that ranges from a gentle 700 BTUs to a commercial-grade
modules propel every kitchen to be exceptional.
20,000 BTU output, the highest of any Jenn-Air product.
IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES WITH MODULES
To round out the product offering, a chrome-infused, electric
Each cooking module is 21" deep and 15" wide. When
griddle delivers 1,800 watts for faster cooking while radiating
combined, they create a highly customized, seamless cooking
less heat into the kitchen.
area while delivering best-in-class performance. Combine
multiple units for large cooktop areas, or use fewer for small All modules may be paired with either a standard updraft
spaces such as bars, prep stations or city apartments. ventilation system or with a new, sleek 4” downdraft vent.
This downdraft vent works efficiently with any of the modules
There are currently six units from which to choose. Mix and
without interrupting kitchen sightlines.
match modules. Combine induction and gas technology.
Kitchen design will never be the same. Now there is no limit to what you can create in the kitchen.
For more information, jennair.com.
For those who crave induction technology, Jenn-Air offers both
a cooktop with a flexible element to accommodate various sized
cookware and a unique induction wok that features a concave
 Residential 177

1330 Brook Street Residence

Lawrence, Kan. text by edward keegan, aia
Studio 804 photos by corey gaffer
178

Each spring, the University of Kansas mints a Floor Plan

new crop of graduates and professor Dan Rockhill’s
not-for-profit Studio 804—filled with graduate students
from the school’s architecture program—completes a
smart new sustainable building in the Lawrence area.
The studio has been doing this for more than two
decades, but that doesn’t make the annual nine-month-
long design/build process any easier.
There were just 10 students for the 2016–17
academic year, half of Rockhill’s usual number, and
the professor’s sole concession to his smaller workforce
was keeping the building to a small footprint. The
studio’s efforts resulted in a 1,300-square-foot, net-
zero energy single-family house designed to a LEED
Platinum standard. The house is located at 1330 Brook
Street, an infill site in a predominantly residential
neighborhood that Rockhill describes as “marginal.”
Doing a smaller house helped to meet the site’s market
requirements as well, with a projected selling price of
$249,000 versus the more-than $325,000 for previous
Studio 804 projects.
Studio 804 is the ultimate DIY architecture
class, overlaid with an unyielding dedication to good
modern design. Many parts of this year’s two-bedroom,
two-bathroom house incorporate leftover materials n

from previous years’ projects, which are stored in a 0 5 10

large warehouse that also functions as the studio’s
shop and classroom. Large 11-foot-tall by 5-f00t-wide
glass panels—which supply the public spaces with
ample daylight—were acquired inexpensively five years
ago from a failed project in Kansas City. Engineered
lumber for the roof was “in stock,” as Rockhill puts
it, as was the steel from which the students fabricated
the exterior screens. The western red cedar exterior
soffit was left over from siding used in last year’s house
at 1200 Pennsylvania Street. “I’m able to manipulate
the use of materials,” Rockhill says. Steel panels were
repurposed from a local commercial project that had
rejected the material, and the team power-washed and Previous Page: A porch on the house’s
painted the panels for the house’s exterior. west side faces the street.
Rockhill cites the prefabricated, enameled-steel
houses produced by Lustron in the postwar years Opposite, Top: The predominantly
as a precedent for the design’s black-metal-paneled opaque envelope on the north side of
enclosure. “They [Lustron homes] were aquamarine the house contrasts with a steel screen
and pink,” he says, noting that breaking with locally on the south.
prevailing hues is part of the design equation.
Despite being completed this year, 1330 Brook Opposite, Left: Only 24 feet wide, the
Street has already sold. The house’s success is house tucks neatly into the suburban
attributable to a particular culture that Rockhill and infill site.
his Studio 804 classes have shaped over more than a
generation. “There’s an interest in LEED and modern Opposite, Right: The steel screen along
design in Bob Dole country,” Rockhill says, but the south façade provides shade and
“there’s nobody else doing this.” reduces solar gain.
179
180
 181

Opposite, Bottom: The hardware and

cabinets were purchased from Ikea
Opposite, Top: A set of interconnected and reinforced with steel. Students
spaces serves as living and dining milled the red oak front cabinet faces,
room. In an adjacent space (at rear), the bought at Menards, and fabricated Above: The house contains two
owners can accommodate overnight the cold-rolled steel countertops and bathrooms: one off the master bedroom
guests by drawing the curtains. cabinet ends. (shown) and another off the north hall.
182

The main entrance (at right) opens off Project Credits

the walkway on the house’s south side. Project: 1330 Brook Street Residence, Abigail Davis, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Brittany
Lawrence, Kan. Hediger, Evan Liles, Charles Rotter,
Client: Built as a spec house assoc. aia, Chris Roybal, Emily Stockwell
Architect/Contractor: Studio 804, (students)
Lawrence, Kan. . Dan Rockhill (director Structural Engineer: Norton & Schmidt
and distinguished professor); Matthew Size: 1,300 square feet
Anderson, Faysal Bhuiyan, John Coughlin, Cost: $249,000
 THE OVEN THAT GOES WHEREVER YOU DO,
EVEN IF IT’S ONLY ACROSS THE ROOM.
The new Jenn-Air ® Connected Wall Oven. With a stunning, easy-to-use 7-inch touch
LCD display, enhanced Culinary Center and a companion mobile app, you’ll always
stay in control of the kitchen — no matter where you happen to be.

Text CONNECT to 31996 to experience our new oven from your phone.

jennair.com/connect

®/™ ©2017 Jenn-Air. All rights reserved. Requires Wi-Fi and account creation. App features and functionality subject to change. Subject to Terms of Service available at jennair.com/connect. Data rates may apply. By responding
“Yes” to Jenn-Air brand’s invitation to opt in to this experience, I agree to receive one marketing text message about the Jenn-Air wall oven sent by an automatic telephone dialing system from Jenn-Air. Reply HELP to 31996 for
help. Text STOP to 31996 to stop. May not be supported by all wireless carriers or handsets. See terms and conditions at jennair.com/terms. Message and data rates may apply.
 RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECT DESIGN AWARDS
HOW TO ENTER
submit your work at
radesignawards.com

QUESTIONS?
email rada@hanleywood.com

2017 CALL
FOR ENTRIES
DEADLINES
EXTENDED
regular September 15, 2017
late September 22, 2017
(Will include a late fee of $50 / entry)
2016 winner casa iv by mesura; photo by pedro pegenaute

AT ABX I...
“SEE THE LATEST IN PRODUCT,
MATERIAL, AND TECHNOLOGY
INNOVATIONS.”
Felice Silverman,
FIIDA, Principal, Silverman Trykowski Associates
20-time show attendee

ABX is the largest building industry event in

the Northeast.

Register Today – Early-Bird ends October 16

abexpo.com

Two shows • 25,000 attendees • One Expo Hall • over 800 exhibitors

Boston Society of Architects/AIA is the founder and presenter of ABX

188 Ad Index

Advertiser Page Website Phone

ABX 2017 187 www.abexpo.com

American Hydrotech 109, 111, 113 hydrotechusa.com/power-of-rain

American Institute of Architects 191 chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

American Institute of Architects 17 adfilmfest.com

American Institute of Architects 78 aia.org/join

American Institute of Architects 85 aialeadershipinstitute.com

American Institute of Steel Construction 32 www.aisc.org/ideas2 312.670.2400

American Specialties, Inc. 25 www.americanspecialties.com 914.476.9000

American Standard 16 dvx.com

Amerlux 87 amerlux.com/cynch

Andersen Windows & Doors 114 -

ARCAT C3 www.arcat.com/charrette

Armstrong World Industries - Ceilings C2 armstrongceilings.com/shapes

Bilco 101 www.bilco.com

Bison 118 bisonip.com 800.333.4234

Bluebeam 21 BLUEBE.AM/DESIGN

Cascade Coil 51 cascadearchitectural.com 800.999.2645

Centria 76 CENTRIAperformance.com/nextchapter

Covestro 54-57 www.covestro.com

Delta 105 DeltaCommercialFaucets.com

Dorken 36 dorken.com

Doug Mockett & Co. Inc. 100 www.mockett.com 800.523.1269

Dri-Design 88 DRI-DESIGN.COM 616.355.2970

Dryvit 97 Dryvit.com/NewBrick 833.NEWBRICK

E. Dillon and Company 112 www.edillon.com 800.234.8970

Ellison Bronze 89 ellisonbronze.com

Feeney 98 www.feeney15.com 800.888.2418

Florida Tile 102 www.floridatile.com

Graham Architectural Products 166 grahamwindows.com/AR67 800.755.6274

Guardian Sunguard 53 GuardianGlass.com/commercial 866.482.7374

Hanover Architectural Products 94 www.hanoverpavers.com 800.426.4242

Hive 174 www.AR.hwhive.com

Horton 171 hortondoors.com

I3Surfaces 93 www.I3Surfaces.com 888.975.7483

Inter-lux 1 inter-lux.com/request

Jenn-Air 175, 176 jennair.com

Jenn-Air 183 jennair.com/connect

Kalwall 119 KALWALL.COM 800.258.9777

Kolbe Windows & Doors 121 KolbeWindows.com 800.955.8177

* issue mailed in regional editions. Publisher not liable for errors or omissions.
concrete skin
| sustainable glassfibre reinforced concrete
| non-combustible (ASTM fire rating) and maintenance free
| natural and durable material, authentic appearance
| various colors and shapes, vivid surface

Distributed by Rieder North America

1-877-740-0303 (toll free) | usa@rieder.cc | www.rieder.cc
190 Ad Index

Advertiser Page Website Phone

LaCantina Doors 110 LaCANTINADOORS.COM

LP FlameBlock 13 LPCorp.com/FlameBlock

Lutron C4 lutron.com/shadesbylutron

Marvin Windows and Doors 168 marvinwindows.com

Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating 62-65 mitsubishipro.com

modulararts 96 modulararts.com

Mule-Hide 120 mulehide.com 800.766.1492

NanaWall 35 NanaWall.com 800.873.5673

NBK 23 NBKUSA.com

Nichiha USA 11 nichiha.com 866.424.4421

Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope® 2-3 obe.com 866.Oldcastle

Ornamental Metal Institute of New York 10 WWW.OMINY.COM 866.282.9298

Owens Corning 66-69 www.owenscorning.com

P/A Awards 39 www.paawards.com

PCI 27 PCI.org

Petersen Aluminum 15 PAC-CLAD.COM 800.PAC.CLAD

Phifer 12 phifer.com/suncontrol 800.221.5497

PPG Industries, Inc. (Architectural Coatings/Paints) 117 PPGPAINTS.COM/ARCHITECT

reThink Wood 37, 40-41, 58-61 rethinkwood.com

Rieder 189 www.rieder.com 877.740.0303

SAFTIFIRST 31 www.safti.com 888.653.3333

Seiho International 107 www.seiho.com 626.395.7299

Seria Pacific Windows 18-19 www.SirraPacificWindows.com 800.824.7744

SilentGliss 173 SilentGlissAmerica.com 718.412.9040

Simpson Strong-Tie 33 go.strongtie.com/firewallsolutions 800.999.5099

Steel Institute of New York 14 WWW.SINY.ORG

Sunbrella 4-5 FUTUREOFSHADE.COM

TAKTL 7 WWW.TAKTL-LLC.COM 412.486.1600

Tamlyn 70-75 www.xtremeias.com 844.365.9462

The Home Depot 29 HOMEDEPOT.COM/HAMPTONBAYCABINETS

The Modern Fan Co. 99 modernfan.com

The Sustainable Sites Initiative 52 sustainablesites.org

The Valspar Corporation 43, 45, 48 ColorObsessed.com

Viega 95 viega.us/About-us

Visa Lighting 167 visalighting.com/products/cosmo

Vitro Architectural Glass (formerly PPG Glass) 8-9 vitroglazings.com/solarban 855.VTRO.GLS

VT Industries 49 VTDoors.com 800.827.1615 ext. 10512

Wausau Tile 108 TecturaDesigns.com

Weather Shield Windows & Doors 42 weathershield.com

Zurn 90 ZURN.COM/sundara 855.ONE.ZURN

* issue mailed in regional editions. Publisher not liable for errors or omissions.
192 ARCHITECT, The Journal of the American Institute of Architects, September 2017

Editorial:
A Fitting Memorial in Charlottesville

text by ned cramer

Faced with the terrible torch-lit images of white The Memorial to Enslaved Laborers was
supremacists rallying in front of Thomas Jefferson’s designed in a collaboration between Höweler + Yoon
Rotunda at the University of Virginia (UVA) on Friday, Architecture, Mabel O. Wilson of Studio &, Gregg
Aug. 11, and the death of counterprotester Heather Bleam Landscape Architect, and Frank Dukes,
Heyer and injury of many others the following day, an environmentalist and founder of University &
I can think of no more succinct architectural response Community Action for Racial Equity at UVA. On
than to share this rendering of the Memorial to June 9, the university’s Board of Visitors Buildings and
Enslaved Laborers on the Charlottesville, Va., campus. Grounds Committee approved the schematic design

courtesy höweler + yoon

We must never forget: Black slaves—some 5,000 and placement on campus, in a green space within
men, women, and children—built and maintained sight of the Rotunda.
Jefferson’s Academical Village, from the university’s The white supremacists claimed to be protesting
foundation in 1819 through the end of the Civil War. the possible removal of a statue of Confederate general
Jefferson himself owned slaves, and it was their forced Robert E. Lee from a Charlottesville park. That their
labor that enabled him to become the principal author hate and violence occurred under such a pretext makes
of the Declaration of Independence, America’s third the construction of the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers
president, and the father of American architecture. even more essential, and fitting.
Shades by Lutron
Solar Adaptive Shades
Zurich Headquarters, Schaumburg, IL

lutron.com/shadesbylutron © 2017 Lutron Electronics Co., Inc.