Tribeca Green is Truly "Green"

Tribeca Green is a 27-story, 357,000 sq. ft. luxury “green” high-rise residential building located on North End Avenue overlooking Tear Drop Park in lower Manhattan. The $75 million tower, designed by renowned architect Robert A. M. Sterns of New York, contains 270 condominium units, ground floor retail spaces, a business center, cellar level MEP facilities, a basement level garage, and a vegetated “green” roof.

Designed to comply with both the New York State and Battery Park City Authority “Green Building” Program, the project achieved LEED Silver compliant status. As such, Tribeca Green offers a fresh opportunity to lead a healthier, more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Energy efficiency measures abound throughout the project, and consequently the building includes a host of environmentally-friendly features such as energy-producing photovoltaic solar panels, a cogeneration system, and a microturbine that will supply clean energy for a portion of the building needs. More.

Favored in residential construction for the lowest floor-to-floor heights, cast-in-place concrete buildings are often built on a two-day cycle per floor resulting in earlier occupancy with a lower project cost. Known for excellent resistance to vibrations and fire, concrete walls and slabs also reduce sound transmission by 30% to 40% compared to membrane walls and provide excellent acoustic separation. Read more residential and green building case studies.

Openings in Concrete Floor Slabs

Floor openings are a fact of life for every building project. This new design resource provides focused guidance for selecting location, size, and required strengthening of slab openings for any engineer designing concrete floor systems. Needed for new and existing structures, the careful selection of locations of small openings is very important and can be accommodated without strengthening. Strengthening around openings may also be required for larger openings and some methods for strengthening of existing structures are introduced. Download the article (PDF).

PCA has other design resources on a variety of topics equally important to the success of your project, like reinforcement detailing for structural integrity and designing mass concrete structures. See all the design resources.

Can Insulated Wall Systems be Blast Resistant?

With increased attention being paid to terrorist bombings the market for blast-resistant structures is growing. What cost-effective solutions are available to create a blast-resistant building? Are there commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) building systems that can meet the owner’s needs either as currently configured or through economic modifications? Must all solutions require a “fortress like” architectural solution? The cement industry is working with other industry trade associations and the U.S. Air Force to research the response of insulated cement-based wall systems to blast pressures. More.

pcaSlab and Punching Shear in Slab-Column Connections

One of the questions frequently asked by pcaSlab users concerns checking punching shear at slab-column connections. Specifically, whether it is sufficient to consider the transferred unbalanced moment from each direction of analysis separately or consider the transferred moments from the two orthogonal directions simultaneously. PCA Notes on ACI 318-05 indicate that it is not necessary to superimpose stresses due to unbalanced moments from both direction of analysis. For typical floor systems, it is sufficient to consider moment from the direction of analysis only. Design with the Equivalent Frame Method requires shear stresses to be checked separately for each direction. The pcaSlab program follows this approach. To learn more about pcaSlab click here.

More about software products available from pcaStructurePoint.

Cement Plants Commended for Benefiting Local Communities, Global Environment

Portland Cement Association (PCA) and Cement Americas magazine recognized six cement plants for their commitment to being better neighbors and reducing their environmental footprint. The Cement Industry Environment and Energy Awards recognize individual facilities that exemplify the spirit of continuous environmental improvement and support this spirit with action. Tom Carter, director of environment, health and safety for PCA, says the awards have become a point of pride for companies: “People are taking a much more holistic approach to energy management, realizing that if they look at the big picture, they can significantly reduce emissions and save a lot of money,” says Carter. More.

Must Have Resources from ACI for Designers of Liquid Containing Structures

Seismic Design of Liquid-Containing Concrete Structures and Commentary (ACI 350.3-06) (LT187)
A guide to the requirement of ACI 350 code, this standard prescribes procedures for the seismic analysis of liquid-containing concrete structures. These procedures address the "loading side" of seismic design and shall be used in accordance with ACI 350, Section 1.1.8 and Chapter 21. This standard works hand in hand with other ACI standards such as the ACI 350 code and ACI 350.1 standard for tightness testing. Published by ACI, it is a must-have companion to PCA’s Circular Concrete Tanks without Prestressing (IS072), Rectangular Concrete Tanks (IS003), and Design of Liquid Containing Structures for Earthquake Forces (EB219).

Code Requirements for Environmental Engineering Concrete Structures ACI 350-06 and Commentary (ACI 350R-06) (LT182)
This document covers the structural design, material selection and construction of environmental engineering concrete structures. Such structures are used for conveying, storing or treating liquid, wastewater, and solid waste and are subject to uniquely different loading, more severe exposure conditions and more restrictive serviceability requirements. Proper design, materials, and construction of environmental concrete structures are required to produce serviceable concrete that is dense, durable, nearly impermeable, and resistant to chemicals with limited deflection and cracking.

Simplified Design of Concrete Buildings of Moderate Size and Height

This one-day ACI/PCA Seminar covers frame analysis, beams and slabs, columns, structural walls, footing, detailing for economy, formwork economy, fire resistance and earthquake forces, in accordance with the latest information in ACI 318-05, IBC 2003, and ASCE 7-02. More.

• Las Vegas, Nev.– April 18 2007


• Milwaukee, Wis.– April 3, 2007


• New York, N.Y. – June 13, 2007


• San Antonio, Texas– May 10, 2007


• Tampa, Fla.– May 22, 2007
  

Annual Building Professors' Seminar

Up-to-date information on the economic aspects of the design and construction of concrete buildings is provided at this yearly event so that participating professors can significantly enhance their concrete design course. Topics include teaching the fundamentals of structural concrete design, unified design provisions for flexure and axial loads in structural concrete members, seismic details for concrete buildings, strut-and-tie, and an overview of codes and standards. Changes introduced in ACI 318-05 will be discussed. This year the seminar will be held July 30-August 1 at PCA headquarters in Skokie, Ill. More.

Structural Engineering Institute SEI 2007 Structural Congress
May 16-19, 2007, Long Beach, Calif.

In a session devoted to the topic of “Blast Effects on Structural Connections and Systems” PCA will present a paper titled “Capacity of Joints to Resist Impact Loads in Concrete Moment-Resisting Frame Buildings.” The paper, written by David Bilow and Mahmoud Kamara, discusses the design of reinforced concrete frame joints to resist forces from accidental or intentional explosions.

ACI Spring Convention
April 22-26, 2007, Atlanta, Ga.

2007 PTI Technical Conference & Exhibition
May 6-8, 2007 Miami, Fla.

2007 Codes Forum
May 18-26, 2007 Rochester, N.Y.