Concrete Helps Art Museum Become Work of Art
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.  (See below.)  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 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 seismic shifts.

The project reduced the original building’s footprint by 37 percent in order to return nearly two acres of open space to a surrounding park. Yet, designers of the 293,000-square-foot building still managed to double the amount of exhibition space.

Skylights and floor-to-ceiling glass reduce power consumption and allow art to be viewed by natural light. The de Young Museum, designed to last for 150 years, has a metal skin of 50 percent copper in 7,000 embossed panels that over time will begin to develop a green patina and will with the environment, truly become a green building.

Fong & Chan. Swinerton Builders was the general contractor. The Corporation of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco was the project developer and architectural work was performed by Herzog & de Meuron of Basel, Switzerland.

High Performance Concrete Focus of Technology Forum
The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) "2007 Concrete Technology Forum: Focus on High Performance Concrete" is scheduled for May 22-24, in Dallas. Nearly 20 technical sessions featuring more than 50 presentations from nationally renowned researchers and practitioners will discuss state-of-the-art developments, new construction techniques and product formulations that optimize high performance concrete, including:

• Self Consolidating Concrete
• Ultra Fast Track Construction
• Extended Service Life
• Industrial Concrete Floors
• Applications and Case Studies
• Performance Specifications and Testing

The symposium will culminate with a site tour in the Dallas area. A product expo featuring companies that offer products and services for high performance concrete applications will be open during the conference.
Visit www.ConcreteTechnologyForum.org to register.

PCA Address Fire Standards, ICF Construction at ACI Convention
Meeting April 22-26, 2007, in Atlanta, ACI committees addressed a number of issues of interest to PCA and the cement industry.  Among notable activities and action items:

During an ACI session on Designing Concrete Structures for Fire Safety, Steve Szoke, PCA director of codes and standards, led a presentation on Fire Performance and Fire Research of Concrete Assemblies, Products, and Methods.  The lecture aimed at dispelling misconceptions about the performance of concrete in fire scenarios, emphasizing the continued appropriateness of current prescriptive and analytical methods to satisfy the intent of the building codes for fire safety.  The presentation is slated to be one of several included in a special ACI publication.

The joint American Concrete Institute/The Masonry Society Committee 216, “Fire Resistance and Fire Protection of Structures,” continues to make progress on determining the fire resistance of concrete and masonry construction assemblies.  The revised standard, Standard Method for Determining Fire Resistance of Concrete and Masonry Construction Assemblies, is expected to be available from ACI and TMS in June 2007.  For the first time, the standard will include specific provisions for concrete having a specified compressive strength of more than 12,000 psi (83MPa).  PCA field engineers anticipate that this will lead to more structural engineers designing structures with such high strength concrete. The committee also is planning to revise the Guide for Determining the Fire Endurance of Concrete Elements, and preparing suggested language for other standards development activities within ACI and TMS. 

ACI Committee 560, “Insulating Concrete Form Structures,” sponsored “Design and Construction with ICFs."  The session gave an opportunity for the Committee to update attendees with the latest information on ICF construction.  At the session, Steve Skalko, PCA manager of regional code services, provided an update on the progress of PCA’s Standard the Prescriptive Method for Design and Construction of Residential Concrete Walls.   
Contact Steve Szoke

Seminar Presents RCC Water Resource Solutions
Fifty consultants, state and county agency representatives, contractors, suppliers, and representatives from cement companies attended the “RCC for Dams and Dam Rehabilitation Seminar and Site Tour” on April 25-26 in Atlanta.  Seminar attendees heard presentations on Georgia dam safety regulations, RCC materials, specifications, design, and construction of RCC structures for water resources.  In addition, they toured Hickory Log Dam, a 180-feet high RCC gravity dam currently under construction, and three other local completed RCC dam projects to observe the performance of RCC first-hand.

The Portland Cement Association and the Southeast Cement Association cosponsored the program.
Contact Fares Abdo

Green Projects Honored CEMEX U.S. Building Awards
Green building and design was the highlight recently at the Second Annual CEMEX U.S. Building Awards where 20 finalists from across the country were recognized. The awards recipients were honored for their use of concrete, innovation, execution of the project, architectural design, and attention for the environment. The awardees in each category will later compete against winners from approximately 30 countries for the world title at the 16th CEMEX International Awards in Mexico in November.

Three categories of projects were honored—Sustainability, Housing, Institutional/Industrial, and Infrastructure.   The Sustainability and Institutional/Industrial award went to the de Young Museum in San Francisco. (See above.)  The Bellamy in Tampa received the Housing award and The Chaparral Water Treatment Plant in Scottsdale, Ariz., earned the Infrastructure award.