Construction Informer

Every year a company called Cut&Paste promotes fast-paced, on-stage competitions among designers of all disciplines. Now, from Dec. 3-4, in Las Vegas at Autodesk University, architecture takes to the stage. The AU Design Slam will test the skill, speed and stage presence of contestant teams while they create original designs in 20 minutes.

Competing teams will have Autodesk Maya, AliasStudio, SketchBook Pro and Revit Architecture software at their disposal, (all brands are registered or trademarked by their owners). The crowds get to watch the spectacle of the designs unfolding on large screens in real time. This is the first time that one of Cut&Paste’s events is being done with 3D design tools.

“Since we launched our global tour in 2005, Cut&Paste has been thrilled by the creativity and energy that emerge from competitors when they work in real time in front of a live audience,” says John Fiorelli, founder of Cut&Paste. “The AU Design Slam provides a unique opportunity to enter another realm of design–created and judged by some of the best and most talented in the industry.”

The architecture challenge is entitled, “Less is More,” and in keeping with the goals of these events it should draw out some anonymous architects and designers so their work can be showcased as proof that good design can come from anywhere – even from an unknown. Below is a scene at one of the events and it is courtesy of Autodesk University.

As builders and remodelers run into resistance related to higher costs associated with energy efficiency improvements, there is a little used tool available to help assuage home owners and buyers reluctant to invest in energy saving features.

Known as a “green mortgage” or Energy Efficient Mortgages, HUD is getting the word out about their availability. These mortgages can be used to buy a new home, upgrade an existing one or to refinance an FHA loan. Borrowers can finance up to 97 percent of the cost of improvements that include insulation, high-efficiency appliances and furnaces, replacement windows, and solar hot water heaters, just to name a few. So when buying a home buyers don’t have to get a separate mortgage for these kinds of improvements, the interest becomes tax deductible, and they also end up with the energy expense savings. And that can come out to a significant amount of money.

HUD says that since 1980 the amount of energy used by the average American home has doubled. On top of that, the cost of energy has risen dramatically. Estimates are that energy efficiency improvements can cut home energy costs by 10 to 50 percent. So far, about 30,000 of these mortgages are issued every year.

There is more information at HUD.

Worldwide Financial Turmoil Widens Impact on Construction: The nearly 2,000 foot tall Russia Tower has been added to the list of tall building construction stoppages. The tower was to be Europe’s tallest but the developers claim there haven’t been enough sales to maintain construction to the finish. Some Russian developers blame George Bush and Alan Greenspan for the freezing of all but a few projects in that country.

More Death and Serious Injuries Stalk Construction Sites: Workers who were sleeping at a New Delhi, India, construction site were buried alive when a dump truck operator dumped a load of dirt on them. However, the contractor says the construction was over and the two men must have been murdered and dumped there. Meanwhile, in Idaho, a worker who was building a fence for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was tightening the barbed wire when the tool slipped and launched him headfirst into a canyon. He landed on a rock crushing his backbone, leaving him paralyzed for the rest of his life.

I recently spent some time with J.F. McCarthy’s excellent book, Choosing Project Success. If ever there was a volume that speaks to the person who loves to build this is it. McCarthy covers some very in-depth information while keeping the reading task manageable. Early parts of this book take you on a journey to discover the key elements that make up the beginnings of a successful project. From there you are succinctly treated to some insightful approaches to estimating, project scheduling and the other necessary processes you go through when building. Later on, there is an immense degree of detail related to all the nuances of how a building and the components that make up the building interact with each other. You may think you know a lot about building, but you will find things here that will definitely make you stop, think and re-evaluate how you view not just the building process, but the beliefs about those things that go into those buildings. I will be doing an in-depth review to be posted on Construction Software Review in the very near future and hopefully an interview with the author right here.

Pawel Gotlib, a construction pro who is currently finishing up some construction management studies, created a tool that construction companies can use to assess their financial health, and perhaps lend some insight into things they might do to strengthen their companies. He has offered it as a free download here. You will need MS Excel to use it, and for anyone who might be curious about how their company stacks up from a financial perspective this is definitely a worthwhile tool to try out.

Take a big fan and outfit it with a system that atomizes water and what do you get – a DustBoss. For demolition this may take care of the angst associated with all the dust created during those activities.

The maker of this machine claims it uses less water than sprinkler methods and saves labor because once running it can operate un-attended. The company has figured out that a water droplet in the size range of 50-200 microns is the most effective for capturing dust and dropping it to the ground. 

You might think that operating one of these would create a wet mess that has to be cleaned up, but the company says that isn’t so. The unit (comes in three sizes) is portable and it is also claimed that it helps to control odors. Because fire hoses and other schemes are eliminated you end up with a labor savings associated with handling hoses and controlling flows. 

The DustBoss goes to work at a Homrich demo site in Michigan.