New York – SpecNews

London has most expensive construction costs in Europe, second in the world

The International Construction Costs Index published by Arcadis, analyses the relative costs of construction across 44 major cities, and also shows a crucial imbalance in London’s expensive construction market.
London is the most expensive city in Europe and the second most expensive city worldwide in which to build, according to an index from a global design and consultancy business.
At the other end the least expensive cities for construction are Taipei, Bangalore, Bangkok, Kula Lumpur, Ho Chi Min, Bucharest, Prague, Sarajevo, Sofia and Jakarta.
Overall the top city is New York, with Hong Kong in third place followed by Geneva and Macau.
Cost premiums in the top cities range from 40% to 60% in comparison with other European counterparts.

Urban jungle: wooden high-rises change city skylines as builders ditch concrete

Mass timber could prove to be a viable alternative to concrete and steel for mid-to-high rise buildings.
We don’t see mass timber replacing those, it just becomes another option when certain parameters and goals apply to a project.”
Called mass timber, the material is an umbrella term for large, solid chunks of panelized wood.
Out of the mass timber initiative, CLT might prove to change the construction paradigm.
Two urban building projects, in New York City and Portland, Oregon, will be changing their city’s skylines with an environmentally sustainable, cost-competitive building material.

ArandaLasch adds pleated concrete facade to Tom Ford store

US firm Aranda\Lasch has completed a store for fashion designer Tom Ford in the Miami Design District, featuring an angular facade that references bold Art Deco motifs (+ slideshow).
Robins, co-founder of the Design Miami fair, is turning the area into a neighbourhood dedicated to fashion, design, architecture and dining spaces.
Inside the Tom Ford store, menswear and womenswear are split up over the two floors.
The architecture studio – which recently designed looping Railing chairs made of metal pipes for Design Miami – referenced patterns and shapes typical on the Art Deco-period architecture around Miami in its design for building’s facade.
“Inspired by the pleated Art Deco patterns found in architecture and fashion, the facade is given a texture that revives the exuberance and ornament of Miami’s golden era,” the studio told Dezeen.

R3 assembles expert technology team

You are here: Home » News » Banking news » R3 assembles expert technology team to lead distributed ledger initiative
Financial innovation firm R3 announced the team tasked with managing the design and delivery of advanced distributed ledger technologies to global financial markets in partnership with its consortium of member banks.
The R3 collaborative model is the best way to quickly, efficiently and cost effectively deliver these new technologies to global financial markets.
The team brings together a unique set of expertise in electronic financial markets, distributed ledgers and blockchain technologies.
In his fifteen-year career at IBM he specialized in the application of new technology in banking and financial markets.
Ian Grigg, Architecture Consultant: Ian is a financial cryptographer with 20 years experience building secure ledger systems for the internet.

Vectorworks Announces Six BIM Camp Events

Beginning tomorrow and continuing over the next three months, global design software developer Vectorworks, Inc.® will host six BIM Camp events in major U.S. cities including: Boston, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Continue to check back at this page for future BIM Camp location announcements.
Dates and locations of upcoming camps include:
The cost to attend a BIM Camp is $25 per person.
“Our BIM Camps are geared toward those who might be unsure of how to use the cutting-edge technology to its fullest capacity,” said Rubina Siddiqui, Senior BIM solutions specialist at Vectorworks.
Vectorworks, Inc. is a global design software developer serving the architecture, landscape and entertainment industries.

NTE Energy Closes Financing for 475 MW PJM Project in Ohio

NTE Energy, a power developer and energy services provider, announced today that its affiliate NTE Ohio, LLC (“NTE”), has successfully closed $645 million in project financing for construction and operation of its Middletown Energy Center.
NTE Energy, through its affiliates, develops and acquires strategically located electric generation and transmission facilities within North America.
Capital Dynamics’ CEI team holds extensive expertise in investing, financing, owning and operating conventional and clean energy businesses globally.
NTE Energy, through its affiliates, is actively developing three projects located in West Texas, Southwest Ohio, and North Carolina as well as pursuing early-stage opportunities in several other locations.
The team executes all aspects of project development, from initial market and site evaluations and permitting to financing, construction and operation.

One third of US construction market could be green by 2018 – report

Green building construction is on track to make up a quarter of the US construction market this year, according to a new report from the US Green Business Council (USGBC) released this week.
It forecasts the green building construction market will grow 15.1% annually – outpacing the 9% expected growth in overall construction starts this year – from $150.6bn in 2015 to $224.4bn in 2018.
By 2018, more than one third of all construction will be green, the report predicts.
“Estimates of the economic impact of green building construction for 2015-18 show a significant increase in impact on GDP, jobs and labor earnings as compared to 2011-14,” the report’s authors wrote.
From 2015 to 2018, green building is expected to support 3.9m jobs, bring $268bn to industry workers and add $303bn to the GDP, according to the report.
It defined green building as construction that is sensitive to site placement, resources use and indoor air quality, among other factors.

Timothy Hatton designs floating stairs for Deirdre Dyson gallery

London firm Timothy Hatton Architects has added a burnished steel staircase to rug designer Deirdre Dyson’s Chelsea carpet gallery as part of a renovation of her studio.
The rest of the building has been transformed into a gallery, with rugs displayed hanging on metal frameworks.
Lighting for the gallery was provided by Lighting Design International, who treated the building as an art gallery rather than a carpet showroom.
Deirdre Dyson had previously used the building as a studio and showroom, but decided to overhaul the space to incorporate a gallery that could also display rugs as works of art.
The architects added glass bricks to the back wall of the gallery, to bring additional natural light into the space.

The Legacy of Gego at Dominique Lévy

In conjunction with the exhibition, Dominique Lévy will publish a two-volume collection of illustrations, texts and previously unpublished archival material.
“Gego: Autobiography of a Line” will be showing from September 10 – October 24 2015, at Dominique Lévy, 909 Madison and 73rd Street, New York City.
The celebrated historical installation will now be re-imagined at Dominique Lévy, bringing together the original Chorros pieces.
She considered her wire sculptures a form of drawing, writing in her diary: “Sculpture: three dimensional forms of solid material.
It will be followed in Spring 2016 by a second exhibition devoted to Gego at the gallery’s London space at 22 Old Bond Street in Mayfair.
Having worked as designer and architect, and raising a family, Gego was already in her 40s when she became a full-time artist.

Build New York Live are pleased to announce our official judges – Press Release Rocket

His work uses computer simulation and computer numerically controlled (CNC) hardware to generate innovative design, construction, and assembly solutions.
For more information, please visit http://www.asite.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_uYAJvb2rk
This is the 7th “Build Live” event in the Build Earth Live series founded to promote Collaborative BIM awareness in the AEC community.
In 2008, the same project also won an AIA New York Merit Award and a New York Designs Award from the Architectural League of New York.
Nathan was part of the BSI working group which developed the British Standards for Collaborative BIM – BS1192 and PAS1192, and co-founded the Build Earth Live series of global Collaborative BIM events in 2008.
Build New York Live, a 48hr global BIM competition organized by Asite, is the latest event in the Build Earth Live series
New technology is revolutionizing the way buildings are designed and how the public can be engaged in the process.