National Engineering Competition Needs Mentors and Middle Schoolers; Deadline for Entering Concrete Competition is Oct. 16

State and national professional associations present awards for innovation and safety to companies in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

Engineers Foundation Seeks 7th- and 8th-Grade Teams For National Competition

Designing affordable housing for those most in need can be complicated. But doing it while following LEED-recognized green-building standards makes the task even more complex.

That’s the challenge for Chicagoland middle schoolers who enter the National Engineers Week Foundation’s 2009-10 Future City Competition.

The Future City Competition invites seventh and eighth graders from across the country to create the cities of tomorrow and encourages youth interest in science, technology, engineering and math through hands-on applications.

This year’s Future City Competition will attract more than 33,000 students from 1,100 middle schools nationwide. Participating students will be asked to design a model of their city using SimCity 4 Deluxe software, provided by Electronic Arts, and then build a physical model of the city using recycled materials. They will also write a research essay describing their design and a second narrative outlining the key features of their city.

Regional competition gets underway in September and ends with the regional finals next January. One winning team from each region qualifies for a trip to the national finals in Washington D.C., during Engineer’s Week, Feb. 15-17, 2010.

The National Finals Grand Prize winners receive a trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala. The second- and third-place winners receive $5,000 and $2,000 scholarships for their schools’ technology programs.

Schools must register teams by Oct. 31, 2009.

Future City is also looking for professional engineers and architects interested in serving as mentors.

For information, school registration, or to volunteer in the Future City Competition, visit www.futurecity.org. For information, visit www.eweek.org or www.futurecitychicago.org; or contact Don Wittmer at 312-930-9119 or dwittmer@hntb.com.

Deadline for Entering Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute Design Competition is Oct. 16

Architects, engineers, and contractors have until Oct. 16 to enter the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute (CRSI) biennial design competition honoring excellence in reinforced concrete structures.

One past winner of the CRSI competition is the Janelia Farm Research Campus in Virginia. (Photo courtesy of CRSI)

Entrants may be individuals or teams. Eligible structures must be in the U.S., Canada or Mexico.

Projects must have been completed between Jan. 1, 2006 and Sept. 30, 2009. The entry fee is $150 per submittal. All entries must be received at CRSI by Oct. 16, 2009. Entries will be evaluated on aesthetics, innovation, engineering achievement, functional excellence and economy of construction.

There are seven project categories: residential buildings, commercial buildings, educational and healthcare facilities, public buildings, cultural and entertainment facilities, transportation facilities, and bridges.

A complete description of the CRSI Design Awards program and contest rules are available at www.crsi.org/design-awards.

Structural Engineers Name Winners of 2009 Excellence Competition

The Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAOI) has announced its 2009 Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards.

The award-winning projects and individuals are:

Best Large Structure: The Index Building Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Halvorson and Partners

Best Medium Structure: The Eleanor and Wilson Greatbatch Pavilion/Darwin Martin House Visitors’ Center, Buffalo, N.Y.; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP.

Best Small Structure: Ravine House Fox Point, Wis.; Pierce Engineers.

Most Innovative Structure: The Richard J. Klarchek Information Commons, Loyola University, Chicago; Halvorson and Partners.

Jurors’ Favorite: The Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, Cal.; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP.

Awards of Merit:

*Portage Park Pavilion, Portage, Ind.; KJWW Engineering. *Nichols Bridgeway, The Art Institute of Chicago; Arup/Wiss, Janney Elstner Associates, Inc. *Northern Arizona UniversityDining Hall and Student Union Expansion, Flagstaff, Ariz.; OWP/P. *The Art Institute of Chicago Modern Wing, Chicago; Arup. *University of Toronto Leslie L. Dan School of Pharmacy, Toronto, Ont.; Halcrow Yolles.

Meritorious Publication: Notes on ACI 318-08 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete; Portland Cement Association.

John Parmer Award (recognizes career excellence and contributions to structural engineering): D. Stanton Korista.

SEAOI Service Award (recognizes career success and advancement of structural engineering in Illinois): Carl A. Peterson.

Outstanding Young Engineer (structural engineer aged 35 or under with achievement in structural engineering): Robert A. Sadler.

Building Contractors of Northeast Indiana Give Excellence Awards

The Building Contractors Association of Northeast Indiana (BCA) has presented its 2009 Excellence in Construction Awards.

The awards recognize the most outstanding construction projects completed during 2008 within 75 miles of Fort Wayne, Ind. The winning projects were chosen for uniqueness, significance/impact to the community, BCA member involvement, and safety record.

Building Contractors Association of Northeast Indiana award winners included: Top left, representatives of Taylor University, Design Collaborative, and Michael Kinder & Sons for the Taylor University Memorial Prayer Chapel. Top right, representatives of Indiana University, MSKTD & Assoc., and Weigand Construction for the Indiana University Medical Education Building. Bottom left, representatives of MSKTD & Assoc., Lutheran Hospital, and Weigand Construction, for Lutheran Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Bottom right, representatives of MSKTD & Assoc. and Sweetwater Sound, for the Sweetwater Sound headquarters. (All photos by James Reid)

The 2009 winners are:

• New Construction – Under $4 million:

Taylor University Memorial Prayer Chapel

Michael Kinder & Sons and Design Collaborative

• New Construction – Over $4 million: Indiana University Medical Education Building at IPFW; MSKTD & Associates, Inc. and Weigand Construction

• Renovation – Under $2 million: Lutheran Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; MSKTD & Associates, Inc. and Weigand Construction

• Renovation – Over $2 million: Sweetwater Sound Corporate Headquarters; MSKTD & Associates, Inc.

Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility Names Award Winners

Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR), a non-profit organization of design professionals committed to peace, environmental protection, ecological building, social justice, and community development, has presented its 2009 Lewis Mumford Awards recognizing people and organizations that exemplify ADPSR’s goals of peace, preservation of the natural and built environment, and socially responsible development.

Growing Home received the Mumford Award for outstanding efforts in peace. The organization promotes and uses organic agriculture as a vehicle for job training, employment and community development for people who may have been homeless, previously incarcerated, or have substance-abuse issues.

Little Village Environmental Justice Organization received the 2009 Mumford Award for environmental work. Its projects include teaching residents how to effectively weatherize their houses, campaigning for open space, youth programs and other environmental advocacy.

Fuller Park Community Development earned a Mumford for work in community development. Fuller Park operates a housing resource center that creates and manages affordable housing, provides technical assistance to area residents and intervenes in predatory land practices. It also runs the Southpoint Academy, which trains people in property maintenance techniques, and also maintains a food pantry. Fuller Park created the Eden Place Nature Center, a public park, from abandoned lots.

J.F. Ahern Wins National Safety Award

The National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA) has presented J.F. Ahern Co. of Fond du Lac, Wis., a 2008 safety award that recognizes the company’s commitment to a safe workplace.

Winners of the award are chosen on the basis of injury frequency data, a safety statement and company program information in five categories based on total hours worked.

Winner of the 1-million-plus-work-hours category, the 129-year-old J.F. Ahern Co. has written safety, fleet safety and defensive driving programs and employs a full-time safety director.

One-third of its 93 supervisors and managers have attended a 10- or 30-hour OSHA construction outreach program within the last three years. On the field/shop employee side, 40 employees have attended NUCA’s Excavation Safety & Competent Person Training Program and 52 have attended NUCA’s Confined Space Entry Training Program.

Safety Director James Lange notes that NUCA safety training programs have become the cornerstone of the company’s efforts to motivate employees to work safely.

McShane Construction Wins Two Safety Awards

McShane Construction representatives display recent safety awards from the AGC of America and the Builders Association of Chicago. From left: CEO James McShane, Superintendent Vic Bishop, Safety Director Dennis Rumshas, Project Executive Matthew Dougherty, and President Jeffrey Raday. (Photo courtesy of McShane)

Jeffrey A. Raday, president of McShane Construction Company, Rosemont, Ill., recently received awards from The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the Builders Association (Chicago Chapter of the AGC) recognizing the firm’s outstanding safety record in 2008.

The “National AGC Safety Award” honors the firm for having worked 286,215 hours without a lost-time accident in 2008.

The Builders Association “Safety Recognition Award” also honored McShane Construction’s outstanding safety performance in 2008, and honored the company as a seven-time safety-award recipient.

Woolpert Receives ACEC National Finalist Excellence Award

ACEC presents award to Woolpert. From left: Dave Raymond, ACEC president; E.C. Honeycutt, Federal Aviation Administration; Thomas Mochty, Woolpert senior vice president; John Hennessy, ACEC chairman.

Woolpert, Inc., Dayton, Ohio, a geospatial, design and engineering firm, recently achieved national finalist status in the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) 2009 Engineering Excellence Awards competition.

Woolpert was selected as a national finalist for its involvement with the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) efforts develop airport survey/GIS standards.

The new CADD and GIS standards for airport data will let the FAA to store data in a central repository and share it among organizations and airports for repeat use.

Collaborative data collection and the ability to share information will reduce duplication of data collection, speed up design and construction, and ultimately save airports time and money.

Structural Engineers Name Robert Stadler of Thornton Tomasetti Outstanding Young Engineer

The Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAOI) named Robert M. Stadler, a senior associate of Thornton Tomasetti, as its outstanding young engineer of 2009.

Stadler joined Thornton Tomasetti in 1998. He has broad exposure to projects of all sizes, from tenant build-outs to major sports stadiums, including high-rise and long-span structures. In addition his experience includes the unique challenges and requirements for high seismic regions.

His work spans residential, office, health care, aviation, cultural, educational, and sports facilities. The projects he’s worked on include the North Terminal Redevelopment at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport; the New Doha International Airport in Qatar; Memphis International Airport’s FedEx Airbus Hangar Facility; U.S. Cellular Field renovations in Chicago; the University of Northern Iowa Uni-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa; and the Abu Dhabi Financial Center in the U.A.E.

Stadler is a member of the Structural Engineering Association of Illinois and the American Institute of Steel Construction. He has been a guest lecturer at SEAOI’s Student Chapter at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has been a panelist and author on topics including seismic design and stadium renovations.

AIA Wisconsin Honors High-School Students for Sustainable School Designs

The Wisconsin chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has honored five teams of Wisconsin high-school students for developing the winning sustainable school designs in its 2009 “Design Your School” High School Design Competition.

The statewide competition asked teams of students in grades 9 through 12 to design an environmentally sustainable school. The type of school and its location were determined by each student team, based on the needs of the team’s community. Fourteen teams submitted designs to the competition.

Each team researched locations, sustainable practices and products, and school design to create presentations. A jury of distinguished architects selected the winning projects.

Members of the AIA Wisconsin Architects in Schools committee were assigned to teams as mentors. The architects volunteered their time to work with teachers and provide guidance to students.

Along with recognition, the first-, second- and third-place schools received cash awards.

The student teams selected to receive awards include:

First Place—Bradley Technology and Trade School, Milwaukee, Wis.

Second Place—Oostburg High School, Oostburg, Wis.

Third Place—Waunakee High School, Waunakee, Wis.

Honorable Mention—Watertown High School, Watertown, Wis., and Platteville High School, Platteville, Wis.

Environmental Systems Design Wins Three ASHRAE Awards for Technology Innovation

Environmental Systems Design (ESD), Chicago, received three Technology Awards from Region VI of the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) as part of the organization’s 2008-2009 awards program.

Environmental Systems Design (ESD) earned an ASHRAE award for its work on the 18-story, 1-million-sq-ft Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of ESD)

The ASHRAE Technology Awards recognize outstanding achievements by members that successfully apply innovative building designs incorporating ASHRAE standards for effective energy management and indoor air quality.

ESD received a 1st Place Award in the Health Care Facilities—New category for Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago; a 2nd Place Award in the Institutional Buildings—New category for the O’Brien Residence Hall at Saint Xavier University in Chicago; and a 3rd Place Award in the Commercial Buildings—Existing category for a fan-system renovation at the Chase Tower in Chicago.

The nearly one-million-square-foot Prentice Women’s Hospital is an 18-story building that can handle delivery of 13,500 babies a year and house 256 licensed beds. The LEED Silver certified facility features integrated technology systems, redundant infrastructure, full building HEPA filtering, energy-efficient design, power quality that meets the special needs of sensitive electronic medical equipment, and Web-enabled building automation.

The O’Brien Residence Hall at Saint Xavier University in Chicago features stair-tower mixed-mode natural ventilation, dual heat-recovery wheels on student-room ventilation, and an oil-free, frictionless, variable-speed chiller that lands energy consumption at 52 KBTU/hr/sq ft.

The fan system renovation at the Chase Tower in Chicago involved upgrades to 39 of the 51 fan systems that serve the 2.4-million-sq-ft facility.

These constant-volume, dual-duct systems were converted to variable-air-volume systems. Approximately 7,500 fan motor horsepower was converted to variable-speed drives with an energy savings for the building of about 30%.