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January 11-13, 2013. Precast? Precast what? Well, precast concrete, since you ask. This was the show for precasters and suppliers of products, equipment and services to make the stuff, and incorporate it into building projects. Precast concrete, we heard, “offers an almost endless variety of products and design options for both above ground and underground construction. From the largest infrastructure projects to the smallest architectural details, precast is one of the most versatile and sustainable building materials available for today’s fast-paced, environmentally conscious construction”. The strength of precast concrete apparently increases little by little over time, while other materials can deteriorate, experience creep and stress relaxation, and lose their strength over time. “Build for keeps” was the message here…
Oct. 9-11, 2012. MetalCon International billed itself as “the One Event for Metal Construction Products, Technologies and Solutions”. Remember when putting up a building consisted of piling bricks or stone blocks on top of each other and sticking them together with mortar? That’s soooo last-millennium. Now it’s all about making steel frameworks and hanging glass, cladding and concrete floats off the structure. Oh, and keeping everything “green” and reducing your carbon footprint, which meant staying current with advancements in green technology, products and tax incentives for building projects, all of which were on show at METALCON’s Green Island. Delegates could learn retrofit techniques and see insulation, cool roofing, coatings, photovoltaic technology, process controls and software products designed to conserve energy. Trust us, software hurts less than a brick when you drop it on your foot…
Aug. 22-25, 2012. IWF 2012 is the connecting point for the woodworking, plastics, solid surface, countertops, furniture manufacturing, material processing and related industries. The International Woodworking Fair is where the material processing and design industries come together to solve problems and find solutions, share ideas and connect with customers. The show focused on furniture manufacturing, cabinetry, architectural woodworking, material processing and other related disciplines and techniques. Visitors could find everything they needed at IWF 2012 from raw materials, supplies, and finishing accessories to woodworking and material processing machinery. Delegates could also see the newest products, trends, and solutions for wood, plastic and other related material processing industries. Wood works…..
 Beach Howe Tower Vancouver BC Vancouver, BC is a world class city, tucked into the far West region of Canada. Long a gateway to the travelers going to Japan, Singapore & China, Vancouver sports a cosmopolitan lifestyle with old world influences. The variety of architecture ranges from totems by indigenous peoples who once thrived on what is now canyons of brick, steel & stone to Art Deco of the 1920′s to today current trend to build mix use buildings for an urban work, live, play lifestyle.
The Beach + Howe Building is just that. The triangular base is reset from the street and includes office & retail space. As the building rises, offsets are made to maximize both city views and limiting the amount of exhaust that travels upward from the Granville bridge. The Beach + Howe Building is designed by copenhagen-based studio BIG architects.
Once it opens, the Beach + Howe building will be Vanouver’s 4th tallest and largest residential complex. To read more about it, here is the Arch Daily, an online ezine for architects complete with specs and Design Boom with more renderings and perspective.
May 9-11, 2012. LFI is the acronym for Light Fair International, billed as the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference. LFI has a track record of bringing top international and domestic architectural, design, engineering and lighting professionals together with exhibitors from around the world. The show blends continuing education courses with expo space dedicated to innovative lighting products ranging from high-end design to new cutting-edge technology. The industry is adopting green standards and energy saving technologies in a big way. There is even a movement to bring natural daylight back into buildings, partly to save energy, and partly for aesthetic reasons. Over 20,000 design, lighting, engineering and industry professionals were on the visitor list, in a A to Z that started with architects and ran to urban planners and visual merchandisers. Got a light, bud?
May 7-10, 2012. AISTech is the Iron and Steel Technology Conference and Exposition. The show featured international technologies from the world over. Anyone involved in the steel industry needed to be at this event, whether to present, attend or exhibit, to discover ways to make the job easier and improve productivity. From foreman to president and from engineer to operator, they came to find out what’s new in technology, methods and equipment. Each year more than 40 countries participate in AISTech. The most popular reasons for attending were given as “New Process or Product Technology” and “Latest Research and Development.” One out of every two AISTech attendees has buying influence for the industry’s products and services. Delegates “steeled” themselves for the long hike round the booths, and “ironed” out any wrinkles in their knowledge…
May 8-11, 2012. Stadia 2012 was North America’s must-attend annual convention for anyone involved in the operation, refurbishment or new-build of a sporting venue. The focus was on innovative capacity-boosting concepts in new-build and refurb, environmentally conscious building materials, techniques and services, operational efficiency-enhancing technologies, systems and services; as well as introducing owners and operators of Stadiums and Arenas to unique, world-class design and architectural technologies, companies and service providers. Attendees were typically stadium and arena venue owners and senior management from tenant teams, the leading sports venue architects, designers, construction professionals and consultants, plus real estate and finance professionals, all mixing in with major sporting event organizers. The whole thing is a giant sports metaphor….
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