Landscape Architect Articles

LASN PMBR News September 200608-31-06 | News

2006 Brick Awards Announced

McKinley Avenue at Ball State University. A panel of five architects and three landscape architects from across the country judged the entries based on fulfillment of project goals, aesthetic interest and appeal, and overall impression.

The Brick Industry Association (BIA) has announced the 2006 winners of its annual Brick in Architecture Awards. This prestigious awards program recognizes outstanding works of non-residential architecture completed since 2001 in which clay brick is prominently featured in construction.

Architects and designers employed by architectural, design-build or landscaping design firms licensed in the U.S. or Canada were invited to enter the competition by submitting a description, floor plan and photography of a breakthrough project. Best in Class, Gold, Silver and Bronze awards were given in seven categories: Commercial; Educational/Schools; Health Care Facilities; Municipal/Government; House of Worship; Other Institutional; and Paving & Landscape Architecture.

The seven Best in Class winners include: (Educational) Oak Park Elementary School, Corpus Christi, Texas, Richter Architects; (Health Care) Concord Hospital, Concord, N.H., TRO/The Ritchie Organization; (Other Institutional) Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Diamond and Schmitt Architects, Inc; (House of Worship) Greek Orthodox Church of the Resurrection, Brookville, N.Y., Bentel & Bentel Ltd.; (Commercial) Farm Credit Services of America Corporate Headquarters, Omaha, Neb., The Clark Enersen Partners; (Municipal/Government) Copernicus Center, Chicago, Ill., Harding Partners; (Paving & Landscape Architecture) McKinley Avenue at Ball State University, Muncie, Ind., Rundell Erstberger Associates, LLC.

For a complete list of Brick in Architecture Award winners, visit www.gobrick.com

Brick Work

There are about 150,000 in the U.S. employed as bricklayers and laborers.

According to the Brick Industry Association (gobrick.com) over 200,000 workers depend on the American brick industry for their employment. Fifteen thousand Americans are directly involved in producing brick, with another 15,000 working in sales and distribution throughout the U.S. There are about 150,000 employed as bricklayers and laborers for the masonry contracting firms that install the product. Thousands more work for the suppliers to the industry, the manufacturers of brick-making equipment and ancillary products sold by brick distributors.

Sixty years ago there were several thousand brick manufacturers and nearly 3,000 brick plants. Today there are 83 manufacturers in the U.S. operating 204 plants, with the capacity to produce 9.5 billion bricks annually. Plants are located in all but 11 states (Ark., Del., Hawaii, Idaho, Mont., N.H., Nev., R.I., S.D., Wis. and Wyo.) and produce a wide variety of structural clay products in a multitude of sizes and shapes: facing brick, paving brick, glazed brick and tile. Ninety-six percent of the product line is face brick.

In 2002, the most recent year for which complete data exists, 8.1 billion brick were sold. Sales since 1997 have been above or close to eight billion bricks, making them six of the 10 best years since 1972.

Plaza Predicament

Plans for Peck Slip on New York City East River waterfront is a piazza.

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C.B. 1 is in agreement to close off Front St. traffic running into Peck Slip, keep the historic cobblestones and to keep the piazza curbless. The only contentious issues are whether to include some trees, and whether parking spaces should be allowed in the piazza.

While piazzas generally do not include trees, landscape architect Alison Shipley, a partner at Quennell Rothschild, has presented CB 1 with examples of European piazzas for consideration, some with trees, some without.

The DOT senior project manager agrees with the popular sentiment to eliminate most of the parking around Peck Slip, but is concerned that a curbless piazza would place pedestrians at risk, as curbs create a barrier between pedestrians and the road.

The Parks Dept. hopes to begin the design process for Peck Slip in August and present a preliminary design to CB 1 sometime this fall.

Source: Downtown Express, N.Y.C.

Cement Consumption Growth Continues

Although a slowdown of the U.S. economy is expected, experts predict cement consumption this year to reach 129.6 million tons, an increase of 2.3 percent compared to 2005 levels, extending a three-year period of continual growth. Additional growth is forecasted for 2007, with a 1.2 percent consumption increase. PCA’s spring forecast had projected a 3.5% growth rate in 2006.

“Higher interest rates, oil prices and inflation will slow consumer spending,” Edward Sullivan, PCA chief economist said. “These forces will result in a harsh decline in residential building and slow the recovery in nonresidential construction activity in 2006 and 2007.”

Sullivan also expects slower job growth to contribute to a more cautious approach to public spending. Additionally, the PCA summer forecast reports that the tight market conditions seen during the past two years have been dramatically reduced. According to PCA’s most recent survey, only two states reported tight conditions-compared to 30 states in 2004 and 2005. Large gains in imports in the first half of 2006 contributed significantly to the easing of supply issues.