Top Sustainability Honors for the de Young Museum

The de Young Museum in San Francisco received the top honors in the Sustainability and Institutional/Industrial categories at the CEMEX U.S. Building Awards. Built to replace the original museum damaged in a 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the project is innovative in design elements, construction materials, and techniques.

One of the first “Green Building” projects in San Francisco utilizing high volume fly ash mixes, the building used 15,000 cubic yards of concrete. It features a nine-story vertical post-tensioned tower and state-of-the-art custom under-floor system featuring a system of plates with rubber liners that allows the building to move during a seismic event. More.

Aesthetically pleasing spaces are frequently created with exposed concrete slabs and round columns to support unique and complex layouts needed for cultural buildings. Offering inherent fire resistance, additional fireproofing isn’t required. Furthermore, designers favor concrete floors to easily and efficiently meet the vibration and acoustical requirements in libraries while accommodating significant live loads without added premium. More museum and library case studies.

Concrete Achieves the First LEED^® Durable Building Credit in Canada

A Toronto high-rise condominium has achieved the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Canada durable building credit. The building was Silver certified in May 2006 by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC). Because of the durable design of the concrete structure and the concrete products used in the building envelope, building owners and occupants will have lower operation costs and a healthier building envelope system. More.

March PPI: Steel Prices Rise for Second Straight Month

Steel prices climbed 2.3% in March according to the March 2007 Producer Price Index. Steel prices have increased 13.1% compared to last year. Asphalt prices rose 0.5% for the month and are up 19.1% in the last year. Concrete prices were up 0.8% for the month and 5.3% for the last year. Lumber prices continue to decline, down 0.1% in March and 11.5% for the last year.

Source: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Simplified Design and Building Code Revisions at ACI Spring Convention

One of the highlights at the ACI Spring Convention in Atlanta was a technical session titled "Simplified Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures," sponsored by ACI Committee 314. The session included presentations and case studies on the design of hotels and parking structures. Other topics were design aids and prelinimary design. The session’s hand outs and other technical resources are available for downloading by ACI members at their Web site.

ACI Committee 318 announced its plans to publish 318-08, Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete, in January 2008. As an important part of finalizing revisions to ACI 318-05, ACI invites the public to review and comment on the proposed revisions during a public discussion period. The changes will be available as a download from the ACI Web site, no later than July 1. All comments received by August 15 will be considered by the committee.

Now Seismic Detailing is Made Easier for CAD Drawings

The second edition of Seismic Detailing of Concrete Buildings comes with a supplement CD that contains electronic files for designers use. Each structural element detailing is presented in three formats; Drawing Exchange Format (DXF), Auto Cad (DWG), and Portable Document Format (PDF) for your convenience.

This publication contains a comprehensive summary of the seismic detailing requirements contained in Chapter 21 of Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (318-05) and Commentary (318R-05).

ACI 318-05 and PCA Notes on CD

The ACI 318-05 Building Code (LT287) and PCA Notes (EB705) are linked electronically to help designers apply the Code provisions. Code requirements and equations used in design examples and explanations in the Notes are linked to the corresponding Code sections. Uses Adobe Acrobat to search, find, and print information. More.

Popular PCA Design Resources on Sale

Prepared with engineers and architects in mind, the PCA Notes is also a valuable aid to educators, undergraduate and graduate students, contractors, materials and product manufacturers, building code authorities, and inspectors. For a limited time, get the most recent editions at reduced prices.

• PCA Notes on ACI 318-05 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete with Design Applications EB705—$60
(Regularly $95)


• PCA Notes on ACI 318-02 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete with Design Applications EB702—$30 (Regularly $60)

This offer ends July 15, 2007.

Up-to-date information on the economic aspects of the design and construction of concrete buildings is provided at this yearly event to allow participating professors to significantly enhance their concrete design courses. 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. Held at PCA headquarters in Skokie, Ill. More.

Simplified Design of Concrete Buildings of Moderate Size and Height

There's still time to register for this one-day ACI/PCA Seminar covering 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

Time Saving Design Examples Updated

Many of the solved design examples on the Buildings Web site are supplemented with computer analysis results. The problems are analyzed and designed using the pcaStructurePoint software programs for comparison purposes with simplified design procedures. Several examples have been recently updated to address comments from the readers and to reflect newer versions of the pcaStructurePoint programs. Please visit the documentation page which provides the link to the solved examples.

More about software products available from pcaStructurePoint.

• USACE Infrastructure Systems Conference 2007
  June 25-29, 2007 – Detroit, Mich.



• NCMA Midyear Meeting
  June 25-29, 2007 – Boston, Mass.