Designed by Pickard Chilton Architects, the 41-story, 670,000-square-foot reinforced concrete office tower is sited adjacent to the new home of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and its associated performance hall, allée and gardens. Nearly 50% of the site area has been dedicated to public open space. The development contains a retail space on the first two floors, along with two high-end restaurants located at each end of the building. Floors three through 14 comprise a 1,100-vehicle parking structure that is clad to blend in with the remainder of the building.

A condensed construction schedule dictated that tenant build-out on floors 15 through 41 begin within 12 months of groundbreaking. To accomplish this goal, Turner and Pickard selected reinforced concrete for its shorter start-up time and faster floor-cycle completion. More.

More office building case studies.

Concrete Contribution to LEED Certification

Could a sustainable building be built without concrete? Sure, but it’s easier with concrete. The durability alone, one of concrete’s inherent qualities, provides an advantage in creating a sustainable structure. With concrete, you are investing up front, but reaping the payout during the entire lifetime of the structure. In addition to its durability, concrete makes important contributions to points under LEED, and Green Globes, in several ways. More.

Pioneer Green Developer Prospects for LEED Gold in California
Last month, a 13-story building called the Elleven became the first condominium project to achieve LEED Gold certification in California. More.

ICFs Help School Make the Green Grade
An innovative classroom addition for the Windrush School in El Cerrito, Calif., takes advantage of the school’s bayside location to be 96 percent more energy efficient than a comparable school building. More.

Strong and Sustainable, Concrete ‘Most Wanted’ for FBI Complex
For a new headquarters building for the Houston office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a reinforced concrete frame is both strong enough to meet blast resistance requirements and green enough to achieve LEED certification. More.

Children's Hospital Research Center Brings Work Out of the Laboratory
Nearing completion in Cincinnati is a new research facility that utilized structural concrete to provide a design that fosters collaboration among scientists, encouraging interaction between the departments. More.

High-Strength Rebar Powers Advances in High-Seismic High-Rise
The 31-story Escala condominium in Seattle, Wash., marks a new milestone in concrete skyscraper construction. More.

Princeton Science Library Pushes the Building Envelope
The new Lewis Science Library at Princeton University, designed by Frank Gehry and DeSimone Consulting Engineers, chose concrete to provide the necessary support for the architect’s signature elements. More.

Strut-and-tie model (STM) is a tool for analysis, design, and detailing of structural concrete members. It is essentially a truss analogy based on the fact that concrete is strong in compression and steel is strong in tension. Truss members that are in compression are made up of concrete, while members that are in tension consist of steel reinforcement. STM is gaining acceptance in designing concrete structures for conditions that are unique and difficult to address efficiently with conventional methods.

Strut-and-Tie Model for Structural Concrete Design is part of the Professional Development Series in Structural Engineer magazine and can be used to fulfill a portion of your continuing education requirements.

pcaColumn Upgrade Increases Productivity

Recently upgraded, the best selling pcaColumn program version 4.00 supports ACI 318-05 and CSA A23.3-04 reinforced concrete design standards. New features and interface enhancements have been implemented to increase the productivity of pcaColumn users. Multiple column section can now be processed in batch mode using command prompt parameters and text based input files. This newly added interface enables automation and integration with third-party software helping you to complete large projects faster. Exporting column sections to DXF format and exporting points from interaction diagrams to spreadsheets are also provided among the new features to facilitate integration of pcaColumn with your customized design solutions. More.

More about software products available from StructurePoint.

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. Use Adobe Acrobat to search, find, and print information. For more information or to order.

Sale on Design Resources

Sale prices good until January 15, 2008.

Four remaining seminars for 2007 will be held in: Los Angeles, Calif., Omaha, Neb., Atlanta, Ga. and Houston, Texas. More information and registration.

Design of Post-Tensioned Structures

This PTI and PCA half-day introductory seminar will focus on analysis, design and construction fundamentals. Basic concepts, code requirements, examples, practical design and construction tips will be discussed. More.

• World of Concrete
  January 22-25, 2008, Las Vegas, Nev.
  Click here to get free registration.
  Click here for a digital brochure.
  

• Manufactured Concrete Products Expo
  February 7-9, 2008, Denver, Colo.
  

• Concrete Bridge Conference
  May 4-6, 2008, St. Louis, Mo.