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  |  Channel: Research Journals, Workplace

ACTIVATING THE WORKPLACE: The Impact of Active Workstations on Employee Effectiveness

Today’s workforce understands that sitting all day is not healthy. As a result, employees are increasingly requesting more opportunities for movement throughout the workday. Workplace design has evolved to address sedentary behavior through active workstations, which allow individuals to experience the benefits of movement and posture change while engaging in productive work. Research on the health impacts of... Read more »

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  |  Channel: Building Technology

White Paper: “Concrete apartment tower in Los Angeles reimagined in mass timber”

Article Published: Citation: Matthew Timmers, Andrew Tsay Jacobs, Concrete apartment tower in Los Angeles reimagined in mass timber, Engineering Structures, Available online 6 December 2017, ISSN 0141-0296, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2017.11.047. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141029617305497) Abstract: This study explores the seismic performance advantages and disadvantages of mass timber construction over reinforced concrete construction for high-rise buildings in high seismic regions. In... Read more »

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  |  Channel: Building Technology, Material Performance

Curbed: “Proposed 80-story wooden skyscraper may be a preview of tall timber future”

From Curbed’s article, “Proposed 80-story wooden skyscraper may be a preview of tall timber future”: “In a city lined with pathbreaking towers and skyscrapers, the River Beech project, if it comes to fruition, may earn its own chapter in the history of Chicago architectural marvels. That’s because this proposed 80-story tower, a joint research project between Cambridge... Read more »

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  |  Channel: Building Technology, Material Performance

Construction Dive: Interview with Andrew Tsay Jacobs

To learn more about how mass-timber construction will scale up, as well as to define what’s currently included in the purview of mass-timber construction for low-, mid- and high-rise projects, Construction Dive spoke with Andrew Tsay Jacobs, director of the Building Technology Lab at Perkins+Will and a member of the International Code Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Tall... Read more »

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  |  Channel: Design Process

Drylands Resilience Initiative (DRI)

FINAL_Latrobe Report_2017_opt Led by the Arid Lands Institute (ALI), the Drylands Resilience Initiative [DRI] brings together collaborators from design, science, and policy to envision and realize an abundant future in drylands. Our goal is to accelerate planning, design, and development that results in local, low-carbon water reserves in dry cities in the US West and around the world. With the support of the AIA College of Fellows 2015-2017 Latrobe Research Prize, DRI collaborators honed and tested Hazel, a powerful new digital design tool for optimizing the capture and reuse of stormwater.

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  |  Channel: Building Technology

Engineered Wood Construction: Using Robotic Fabrication Techniques to Create Carbon Negative and Low Embodied Energy Composite Wood Structural Elements

The 2017 Spring Perkins+Will Innovation Incubator project proposed to develop the next generation of net carbon negative, low embodied energy wood composite structural elements. The team created composite fibers composed of a bio-based thermosetting plastic and fiber additives (carbon, aramid, and two types of wood fiber), and evaluated their sustainability and began the process of... Read more »

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  |  Channel: Building Technology

Robotics for Thermoplastics

P+W researchers partnered with Autodesk BUILDSpace to use robot arms to stretch and manipulate molten plastic.  This project was a continuation of research performed at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London. View the complete white paper here.   PROJECT TEAM: Soulaf Aburas, Phillip Ewing PROJECT DATE  December 2016   :

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  |  Channel: Building Technology

River Beech Tower Nodes

Perkins+Will Chicago teamed up with Autodesk BUILDSpace in Boston to fabricate two full scale nodes of the proposed River Beech Tower.  The wood, concrete and steel hybrid constructions were assembled at Pepper Construction’s warehouse in Chicago and are currently on display in the Chicago office of Perkins+Will.  The proposed 80-story wood tower design was produced... Read more »

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  |  Channel: Building Technology, Material Performance

International Code Council – Ad Hoc Committee on Tall Wood Building

Andrew Tsay Jacobs is a committee member of the International Code Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Tall Wood Buildings. Code change proposal will be submitted January 8, 2017. Proposal includes provisions for buildings of fire-protected mass timber construction to be up to 18 stories and 270ft in height.  Fire-protected mass timber construction with limited exposed... Read more »

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  |  Channel: Building Technology, Material Performance

All Wood Space Frame

P+W researchers collaborated with Autodesk BUILDSpace to fabricate an all-wood space frame using 2x lumber and wooden dowels.  Using Dynamo to create the geometry and Fusion 360 to create the executable files, the 2x members were cut using a 5-axis CNC machine.  Two assembled truss prototypes were created – one is housed at P+W Vancouver... Read more »

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  |  Channel: Building Technology, Material Performance

Business Insider: Architects want to build an 80-story skyscraper in Chicago made entirely from wood – take a look

Most skyscrapers are behemoths of steel, glass, and reinforced concrete. As part of an ongoing project, researchers at Cambridge University, architects at Perkins+Will, and engineers at Thornton Tomasetti are proposing a timber skyscraper, called the River Beech Tower, in Chicago, Illinois. The team sees the wooden tower concept as an especially sustainable type of architecture since... Read more »