BEST OF BUILD BOSTON Build Boston, the largest regional conference and trade show for the design and construction industry in the United States, recently demonstrated again why it has earned such preeminence. More than 14,000 architects, designers, construction and facility managers, and owners attended the 27th Build Boston conference, hosted by the Boston Society of Architects in November 2011. The trade show floor boasted some 300 vendors — up 6% over last year — who plied their products with the usual vigor. — Published 2012.0111
	AIA/ALA LIBRARY AWARDS 2011 In an urban district of Little Rock along the Arkansas River, the Arkansas Studies Institute occupies a facility befitting the study of state history. Two neglected buildings from the 1880s and 1910s were repaired and combined with a new addition to form one consolidated facility that houses over ten million historic documents. — Published 2011.0518
	BNIM - AIA FIRM OF THE YEAR To become one of the first two buildings to receive full recognition under the Living Building Challenge, the Omega Center for Sustainable Living in Rhinebeck, New York, had to meet a stringent set of criteria, including generating all its energy from renewable resources, and capturing and treating all water used onsite. — Published 2011.0511
	AIA HOUSING AWARDS: SINGLE-FAMILY In the Towerview neighborhood of Racine, Wisconsin, a strikingly modern two-story home stands apart on a lakefront site. Though its architects credit nearby Victorians as inspiration for the vivid colors highlighting its facade, the playful tone, rectilinear massing, and structurally expressive detailing seem to make more recent references — as well they might. — Published 2011.0406
	DOCKSIDE GREEN: PHASE TWO The second phase of the Dockside Green project in Victoria, British Columbia, recently received a high-scoring LEED Platinum certification from the Canada Green Building Council. Known as Balance, this part of the development comprises 171 residential units in two adjacent towers. It earned a LEED score of 63 points out of a possible 70, matching the score of Dockside Green's first phase, Synergy (featured in ArchitectureWeek No. 401). — Published 2011.0302
	HOUSING AWARDS FROM HUD AND THE AIA Residents of Congo Street in Dallas, Texas, loved their tight-knit community of homeowners and long-term tenants. By 2008, however, the neighborhood's modest, century-old houses had fallen into disrepair. The local firm buildingcommunityWorkshop worked with five homeowners to develop a unique plan for renovating their homes without displacing anyone from the neighborhood during the process — and while also reaching for LEED Platinum. — Published 2010.1208
	PORTLAND AIA AWARDS When the University of Oregon made plans with longtime athletics benefactor Phil Knight, chairman of Nike, to build a new study center for student athletes on the Eugene campus, the stated goal was to create a building of striking beauty that celebrates the landscape. The resulting John E. Jaqua Academic Center for Student Athletes is a gleaming glass cuboid set against a reflecting pool, impressing passersby with its pristine presence while providing abundant outdoor views to the select athletes within. — Published 2010.1110
	TEACHING DESIGN/BUILD: STUDIO 804 Studio 804, which takes its name from the final design studio within the graduate architecture program at the University of Kansas, compresses every aspect of design/ build practice into an intensive five-month experience. In the ten years since the studio began, we've progressed from small-scale projects to creating affordable housing for the city of Lawrence to the point at which students now design, build, and install prefabricated homes for entry-level buyers in Kansas City. — Published 2010.1020
	BETTER ENERGY CODES NOW Update: Local and state building code officials did approve a package of revisions to the commercial section of the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) in late October, as recommended here. New and renovated buildings constructed in jurisdictions that use the new 2012 IECC are predicted to use 30 percent less energy than those built to current standards. —Editor — Published 2010.1013
	GREEN SCIENCE IN SALT LAKE CITY The new Meldrum Science Center, certified LEED Platinum, provides an outstanding teaching and laboratory facility for the Westminster College campus in Salt Lake City, Utah. The airy, daylit interior of the four-story, 60,000-square-foot (5,600-square-meter) building provides a fertile matrix for interactive learning about science — in the curriculum and in the building. — Published 2010.0929

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