Photo © Randolph Langenbach A recent reports says that only 5 percent of Haiti's gingerbread houses fully or partially collapsed during the January 2010 earthquake. Click on the slide show button to view images. Related Links: Special Coverage: Rebuilding Haiti Of the approximately 300,000 buildings in Haiti that were damaged during the January 2010 earthquake, the country’s historic gingerbread houses endured the disaster relatively well. In fact, researchers estimate than only 5 percent of these beloved buildings partially or fully collapsed.   As the country slowly rebuilds, lessons could be learned from these charismatic dwellings built more than a century

Image courtesy FXFOWLE/LIFANG Click on the slide show button to see images of the museum. Related Links: FXFOWLE Tapped for Dubai Bridge Skyscraper Craze Rages On Foreign Markets No Longer A RefugeAbu Dhabi Marches Forward Like many global design firms, FXFOWLE is finding fertile ground in Saudi Arabia. In Riyadh, the country’s capital, the New York-based firm has six active projects in the King Abdullah Financial District, a 55 million-square-foot, mixed-use development. Among them is the Museum of Built Environment, which aims to explore the role that social, economic, and environmental forces have played in the region’s constructed landscape, both

Perkins + Will, the global design firm, has sold its Connecticut office to two of its principals. Related Links: Perkins + Will Expands Again Perkins + Will Adds Guenther 5 Merger Mania Special Coverage: Practice Matters Stevanie Demko and Kathyann Cowles bought the Glastonbury office, near Hartford, in March, say sources close to Perkins + Will. The two designers have renamed the firm Id3A and have reportedly kept many of Perkins + Will’s clients in the area. Id3A has also retained most of the office's employees, which numbered around a dozen earlier this year, according to sources. Terms of the

Finally, some good news for the hard-hit design profession: Firms are hiring again. Photo courtesy Wikipedia/Library of Congress A 1940s firm seems to be awaiting the postwar building boom, much as today’s architects hope construction will be on the rise following the recent recession. As the third anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers approaches — the event that delivered the knockout punch to an already reeling U.S. economy — a trend is emerging that may have once seemed unthinkable. Firms are hiring again. To be fair, staff levels are not at their prerecession highs, as new employees are being

Insurance settlement related to a building information model shows that BIM without communication can be costly. A lawsuit over construction of a life-sciences building at a major university stands as the first known claim related to the use of building information modeling by an architect. Furthermore, the claim and its settlement serve as a cautionary tale to others using BIM, says the insurer. FIVE LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT A manual of graphical standards to help clarify and standardize BIM contract deliverables is expected in about a year. Level 1 is Visualization. “The creators of BIM claim its use reduces risk, and

Insurance settlement related to a building information model shows that BIM without communication can be costly. To improve communication and understanding regarding BIM, the legal sub-forum committee of the Associated General Contractors BIM Forum recently launched a project to create a manual of electronic graphical standards. The group's intent is to clarify the American Institute of Architects' AIA Document E202-2008. The document, which can be incorporated into an AIA agreement, establishes protocols and expected levels of development (LOD) of a BIM deliverable. It also authorizes uses of BIMs and assigns specific responsibility for the development of each model element to

Insurance settlement related to a building information model shows that BIM without communication can be costly. “Even greater opportunities exist for increases in productivity as more designers allow fabricators greater access to models, models start being reviewed as opposed to detailed drawings, and fabricators open their dimensionally accurate models to other trades and specialties,” said Moor. To facilitate engineer-fabricator model interchange, engineers should model members to the top of steel on center lines, said Rob Schoen, founder of Axis Steel Detailing Inc., Orem, Utah. Columns should be continuous or break at correct splice elevations. Beams should be continuous or go

Image courtesy Steven Holl Architects Steven Holl has designed an academic building for the National University of Colombia. Steven Holl Architects has just unveiled its preliminary concept design for a new Doctorate’s Building for the Schools of Law and Economic Sciences at the National University of Colombia in Bogotá. Holl and his partner, Chris McVoy (with whom he is collaborating on the project), say the 70,000-square-foot, two-story building is intended to re-energize the original campus master plan and encourage social connections. Related Links: Holl Prevails in Global Competitions Holl Designs Library for Hunters Point Linked Hybrid by Steven Holl Designed

The State Dept.'s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) manages U.S. embassy construction around the world. Last year, OBO launched a Design Excellence initiative, modeled after the General Services Administration's long-established program. Over the past year, State Dept. working groups have studied OBO's programs and policies and came up with more than 60 recommendations for changes in how it does business. ENR's Washington bureau chief, Tom Ichniowski, spoke with OBO's acting director, Adam Namm, and its deputy director, Lydia Muniz, in late April during a meeting of the bureau's Industry Advisory Panel, and followed up with Muniz on May 4,

New York City’s American Folk Art Museum, designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects and completed in 2001, has been sold to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) next door.