July 26, 2019

LEED: A Critique of the Unintended Consequences of Credit 5.2: Maximize Open Space

LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, has been a product of the USGBC (United States Green Building Council) since 1998.  Since 1998, LEED has grown and is a valued resource for many buildings across the country.  I will provide a series of posts concerning different LEED points/credits in terms of potential improvement areas. 

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Understanding Trus Joist Pro Ratings and Minimum Deflections by Code

When designing floor joists engineers must check several design properties including moment, shear, bearing and deflection.  In this article we are going to focus on deflection since it is a common complaint from homeowners. For any structural member deflection limits must be satisfied based on the building code.  For floor joists a live load deflection

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Permanent Retaining Walls using Soil Nails and Shotcrete

EVstudio does a wide range of projects and design services.  One of those services is soil retention and temporary soil shoring.  There are many different ways to retain soil, but one of my favorites is the use of soil nails and shotcrete.  With the right contractor, you have so much more control of the design,

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This or That #1: LEED accreditation vs. certification

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and was developed by the US Green Building Council as a way to quantify environmentally friendly design in buildings and everywhere you go in our industry you hear about people and their projects becoming either accredited or certified; so what’s the difference? In this corner: a

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Cost Per Square Foot for Construction for Medical Office Buildings

In an effort to keep our information current with the moving economy, I am posting an update to the series on Estimated Construction Costs per square foot for Medical Office Buildings, a project type for which EVstudio has extensive experience. Below is a chart from RSMeans construction cost data that illustrates the cost per square foot for new

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Full Speed Ahead? – Highlights from the 2012 Multi-Family Economic Conference

The Apartment Association of Metro Denver held their semi-annual Economic Conference on January 25, 2012. The audience, composed of multi-family developers and their suppliers, were there to learn if 2012 would build on the successful year of 2011.  With the equity markets still tight and most developers continuing to hedge their new-construction plans against the

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