2Nd Cemex U.S. Building Awards Honor Green Projects

Recognizing three top award winners and 20 U.S. finalists among four categories, the Second Annual Cemex U.S. Building Awards program highlights green

Recognizing three top award winners and 20 U.S. finalists among four categories, the Second Annual Cemex U.S. Building Awards program highlights green building and design. Environmentally friendly structures built with concrete and recycled products ranged from houses designed for energy efficiency to a California museum standing as a work of art that is also earthquake resistant. Affirms Cemex USA President Gilberto Perez, This year’s nominees represent visionary thinking, best practice performance, and respect for the environment.

Cemex received applications from 100-plus builders, architects and engineers nationwide. Top recipients were selected by a jury of four U.S. architects: Kathleen Carrier, a LEED-accredited professional and owner of Evergreen Design Studio in Bellaire, Texas; Marley Carroll, an AIA Fellow and managing partner with Odell Associates, Inc., in Charlotte, N.C.; David Hertz, an AIA Fellow and LEED-accredited professional, founder and president of Syndesis Inc., Santa Monica, Calif.; and, landscape and urban architect Jerry Regenbogen, principal of Regenbogen Associates in Charlotte, N.C.

Winners and finalists were selected in the following four categories: Sustainability, Housing, Institutional/Industrial, and Infrastructure. Recognized for their use of concrete, innovation, project execution, architectural design, and attention to the environment, award winners in each category will compete in November against contestants from approximately 30 countries for the world title at the 16th Cemex International Awards in Mexico.

SUSTAINABILITY & INSTITUTIONAL/INDUSTRIAL AWARD

Innovative design and environmental benefits earned the de Young Museum in San Francisco (below, upper left) top honors for the Sustainability and the Institutional/Industrial categories. Built with 15,000 yards of concrete to replace the original museum damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the project is one of San Francisco’s first ÎgreenÌ buildings to use high fly ash mixes. It features a nine-story vertical post-tensioned tower and custom underflooring that features a system of plates with rubber liners, allowing the building to move during seismic shifts. While doubling the amount of exhibition space, the 293,000-sq.-ft. building reduced the original footprint by 37 percent to return nearly two acres of open space to the surrounding park. The Corporation of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco was the project developer; architectural work was performed by Herzog & de Meuron of Basel, Switzerland, Fong & Chan; and, Swinerton Builders was the general contractor.

HOUSING AWARD

Comprising 61 homes, top award-winning The Bellamy in Tampa, Fla. (below, right), is a 21-story condominium that features Û in addition to a garden area and pool on the rear deck Û a two-story lobby, theatre, library and conference center for special events. The structure includes 580,000 sq. ft. of suspended concrete slabs. Due to local ordinances placing tight weight restrictions on Bayshore Boulevard where the development is sited, all truck traffic entered through secondary road access, requiring extra routing efforts for on-time arrival of multiple concrete loads. The project’s developer was JMC Design & Development; architectural work was done by Sydness Architects; and, concrete work was completed by Hickman Structures.

INFRASTRUCTURE AWARD

The Chaparral Water Treatment Plant in Scottsdale, Ariz. (below, lower left), which pumps and treats 30 million gallons per day from the Salt River, required 100,000-plus yards of concrete. The concrete scheduled included special mixes totalling 25,000 yards that incorporated low water-to-cement ratios, air entrainment, superplasticizer, and fly ash. The City of Scottsdale developed the project; Scot Thompson handled the architectural design and engineering; and, Archer Western was the concrete contractor.