Data Driven: USGBC Will Begin Collecting LEED Performance Data
There’s sustainable design, and there’s sustainable operations and practice. When it comes to sustainable buildings, they both fulfill an important role in the net-zero equation. To help bridge the gap in knowledge between design and performance, LEED v.3 has introduced ongoing reporting of building performance to its preconditions of certification. This performance-based analysis of energy reduction is a key component supporting the AIA’s policy on sustainability rating systems.

Architecture Students Get Immersed in Revit Boot Camp
Chicago-based firm StudioGC Architecture + Interiors hosted in June a summer “boot camp” for eight University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) architecture students for intensive training in the 3D BIM platform Revit®. The month-long, hands-on workshop was instituted by the firm in lieu of summer internships.

Home Fire Safety Issues Land on the Front Burner
With a new model International Residential Code requirement for residential sprinklers and a battery of tests from Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and the National Research Council Canada (NRC) on the fire resistance of lightweight engineered wood and dimensional wood floor and roof assemblies, various interest groups are re-examining a common structural system not currently addressed in most jurisdictions’ one- and two-family residential building codes.